When you return
by Siraelka
Summary: Severus and Sirius are forced to marry each other. Sirius isn´t one to be tied easily though and so he leaves his new husband shortly after their wedding ... AU. Slash. SBSS, well ... you´ll see.
1. Chapter 1

Summary:

Severus and Sirius are forced to marry each other. Sirius isn't one to be tied down easily though and leaves his new husband shortly after wedding ...

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Chapter 1

He felt like hell. Outside it was a beautiful summer day and for most people also quite an ordinary one. Not for a young man named Sirius Black, who was currently sitting on the edge of the bed in his rooms, waiting for his father. The only thing to keep him company was a half empty bottle of Firewhisky. He stared into space and contemplated the situation, in which he got caught, completely unprepared. Possibly the first one of this seriousness which wasn't, even partly, his fault.

Sharp knock on the door brought him out of his thoughts. "Are you ready, boy?" asked his father, tall and stern looking man with thick graying hair and just as pale blue eyes as were his son's.

"As ready as I can ever be," Sirius muttered under his breath, so his father couldn't hear him. He stood up and not so carefully kicked the bottle under the bed. _Sod it, if it spills_, he thought in last attempt of defiance.

A man named Willkins, who camein with his father,made an attempt to straighten up his tie and collar. He was an old friend of his father and so he was asked by his parents to attend this farce as one of Sirius' best men.

They were joined by three other Sirius' squires down in the main hall. Remus Lupin, his schoolmate from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and the only one in this room Sirius cared about, smiled softly, reassuringly, but his eyes asked silently, if he was all right. Sirius grimaced in response. He felt sick. He caught a sight of himself in a large mirror on the wall and what he saw didn't cheer him up in the slightest: his face was drawn and pale, his eyes a little red-rimmed from lack of sleep and too much of alcohol from last four nights. Not to mention the horrible taste in his mouth. Remus stepped towards him, lending him support.

They exited the hall through the glass door and got out on the terrace, then down the stairs and across the lawn to the large white tent, where a crowd was assembled. They were coming from the right side, directly to the white marble altar. From the other side was coming another small group, all in white and golden dress robes, just like him and his companions. And in the midst of them ...

Severus Snape, tall, dark-haired, beak-nosed and as ugly as the first day he had met him, on the platform nine and three quarters, fourteen years ago.

They arrived to the altar in the same time and both knelt down simultaneously and surprisingly without any murmured insults. They had gone through this part of ceremony so many times before, that the arguments in this particular position must have somehow lost their appeal, Sirius mused, even when those two could argue in any position for hours. But the problem was – this wasn't any of the last rehearsals, but the real thing ... and if everything went according to plan, they could soon find themselves in a position he rather wouldn't think of at all. To Sirius, it really seemed as if that was his execution, as he waited, kneeling with his head bowed down, for the axe to fall.

"We all gathered here on this day -" dry voice of the old priest, Mr Mortimer was his name, carried above his head to the crowd.

Oh my God, so this is how it ends. Sirius wanted leap on his feat and scream at the top of his lungs, that this isn't happening and that everyone can get the hell out of here and leave him be.

But of course he did not do such a thing. He was a known rebel, true, but no one in their right mind would go against people like his parents, Augustus and Persephone Black. And certainly not in public. That would sign his death warrant.

"- to bond those two soul, that wish to stay together in -" Sirius snorted. Snape beside him made a small growl-like noise. Well, at least he wouldn't be Snape for long, Sirius smirked inwardly. This was about the only thing he was pleased about: Snape was to get HIS last name.

But all the same, look at the injustice here. Seven years in the school with the little slimy git and he hoped that he had managed to get himself rid of him. No such a luck. Two years ago, his mother had announced that she found a suitable mate for him to marry. He hadn't been pleased. Whoever his mother had chosen, it certainly wouldn't correspond with his image ideal mate. He had been right. When his mother had reintroduced him Snape and his mother, he had almost fainted from shock. He had tried, and he suspected, that Snape had tried as well, to talk his parents out of this one, but they wouldn't relent. In the end had both he and Snape been subjected to endless try-outs, boring explanations of traditions and vows and worst of all constant presence of each other. They had managed to postpone the ceremonies but there had their hopes ended. Their parents had hoped that they would learn to be around each other but to no avail. How they had managed not to see that those two just hated each other and that wasn't going to change anytime soon, he would never understand.

"- and so they offer vow of love and devotion."

That was their cue. Sirius rose and Snape did the same. Sirius managed to steal a look behind him. There were his parents. His mother was dabbing her eyes theatrically, show for the assembled ones as well as for the reporters from Daily Prophet. But behind them sat two figures, that were watching him intently, one with messy mop of dark hair and the other red-haired. In their faces was obvious tension and concern for their friend. Sirius immediately looked away, bitting his lip. Had it really been only last month, when he himself had posed as a best man at James' and Lily's own Muggle themed wedding?

"I, Sirius Constantin Dorian Black, take you, Severus Samuel Snape, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish forever. I bind myself to you with my soul and body. This is my solemn vow."

Great, his voice didn't even waver. He somehow managed to keep his stony posture, as he heard the same words spoken in deep quite voice, that belonged to the man next to him. He knew, intellectually, that Snape didn't want this any more than him, but that certainly didn't smother his desire to kill the other man on the spot. Luckily for him they had agreed on simple traditional vows. He didn't think he would have managed to say, let alone listen to, anything longer.

"Having said their vows, they will never be separated again," said Mr Mortimer and the imaginary axe stopped a few inches above Sirius' head. "Is there anyone, who wouldn't wish this happy union to take place? Speak up or stay silent forever."

Sirius' had never prayed before but in that minute of silence he certainly tried.

Alas, it looked like one Sirius Black had already exhausted every single miracle stored for him.

"Then be your marriage long and full of love and joy. You may kiss."

Sirius turned to the other man for the first time that afternoon. Snape's expression was the one of a stony mask and for that he felt oddly grateful. He leaned so their faces were a few inches apart and was little surprised, when Snape - well, not a Snape anymore, but a Black, like his husband - blinked and jerked away with an expression of bewilderment. It took him only a second to identify a reason for Sna-Bla- ... bloody hell, Severus' reaction: after half of the bottle of Firewhisky, his breath certainly couldn't be the nicest thing Sn-Severus had ever met. Sirius smirked a little. And then grabbed a fistful of Severus' hair, pulled him sharply towards himself and kissed him hard, his tongue taking first opportunity, when Severus gasped, and snaking in the other man's mouth.

When he released his mouth, Sirius had to catch hold of his husband's (brr!) shoulders to steady him. Severus decidedly looked very green.

"Warn me next time, Black, when you're going to be in my immediate vicinity, if you again decide to lick hippogriff's arse," hissed Severus angrily.

"Do not worry, _Black_, I'm not intending to ever get _that_ close again." Sirius noted with satisfaction, that Severus started at his new name.

Sirius grabbed his arm and began to lead him down the aisle between the chairs and back to the house, where a huge reception would be held. Behind them, the guests were standing up and following the newly married "happy couple".

Once enough people gathered inside of the reception room, Sirius let go of Severus' hand, and as soon as they received congratulations from majority of the present guests, he left Severus stand on his own by a marble pillar without another word. _Let the antisocial freak deal with it as he sees fit_, he thought.

"That wasn't very nice of you," a woman's voice said behind him. He turned.

There they stood. The only three people he knew he could rely on. The only ones he could trust. James Potter, his first friend everat Hogwarts, man he shared many interest with and with whom he had once been dating. The pretty redhead was James' wife, Lily. Clever and kind witch. He had been beyond angry, when his parents had expressed their dislike of her just because she was a Muggleborn. The young man with a shy smile was Remus Lupin, usually quiet and reserved, always polite and respectful and fearful of people finding about him being werewolf, for everyone was afraid of them.

"Oh, give me a bit of peace, Lil," Sirius growled. "I will have more than enough of him as it is."

"Are you all right, Padfoot?" James asked. Sirius smiled at the use of his old nickname, but felt that his expression probably resembled more that of pain than calm.

"As I can only be under these circumstances." And after short pause. "You know what, let's get something to drink before they drag me away again."

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This is first time ever I wrote something else than a required school essay and at the same time first time ever I ever wrote something in English, so you don´t have to like it. It serves mainly for my practice. If you have anything to say to me, I will be glad though.

S.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Heh, I actually forgot about it last time, so I'm setting it right here. I solemnly swear, that I don't own anything from JKR's World. I do own a few ideas, but that's all. I'm just playing around and I promise to return everything on its place, when I'm finished.

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Chapter 2

He was standing inthe living-room of their new house. Behind him, flames crackled merrily inthe fireplace. He watched as Sirius went from one thing to another, eying everything with a mild interest. Neither of them had been in this house before. It was a wedding gift from Sirius' parents and it would have been considered impolite, not to mention an act of absolute distrust, to ask for visiting it before the wedding.

_Not that Sirius actually trusts them_, Severus thought with a wary look still directed at the man, who was now his husband.

They had been sent in the house by a portkey half an hour ago, had been received by two House Elves, whose names he hadn't bother to remember yet, and had been lead in here by the aforementioned creatures, who had then promptly left to "unpack thingies for sirs". _Thingies,_ for God's sake!

Severus felt a headache coming. If he were forced to endure company of those idiotically speaking creatures more often, he would surely go mad. He wasn't used to House Elves. He knew of them only from books. Prince family had lost their own House Elves long time ago, along with their fortune, and as his father (let the bastard rot in hell) was a Muggle, he hadn't had them, either. He had always thought, maybe a bit hypocritically, that it was better, that he hadn't been around these magical beings at all. He certainly wouldn't be pleased to find himself influenced by their way of speech.

"Sirs' bedroom is prepared, sirs. Is Mona to prepare diner for sirs, too?" a squeaky voice said timidly from the door to the hall. So Mona it is.

"No, Mona. The last thing I think of right now is food," Sirius spoke up for the first time since they had arrived. Not that Severus himself had actually spoken, aside from a terse reply to the House Elves in the entrance hall.

"Mona is show sirs sirs' bedroom, then." Mona the House Elf bowed and Sirius apparently took it as a prompt to leave the large living-room. Severus took a moment to reflect on the fact, that Sirius not only didn't consider asking him, if he perhaps wanted the diner – which he didn't, but that wasn't the point – but neither he seemed to realize that it would be proper to wait for him.

Fortunately, Mona waited patiently, still bowed deeply, until he, too, left the room – a fact, which, to Severus' glee, seemed to irritate Sirius.

The hall was scarcely lit by candles floating in the air above their heads, which reminded Severus of his schooldays at Hogwarts. He had been going at school together with Sirius and his friends, but while his House had been Slytherin, Sirius and his buddies were sorted in Gryffindor. Hogwarts had four Houses, but between Slytherin and Gryffindor there had been a longstanding rivalry. And it looked like some people couldn't let go of their childish animosity even after more then six years after leaving school.

They walked up the stairs to the first floor and stopped by a double door. Mona snapped her fingers and the door wings swung open. Inside the room was complete darkness and Severus halted in his steps. Sirius noticed this and turned his head to him.

"You are afraid of dark, _dear_?" he asked, smirking nastily. The shadows danced everywhere on the walls. His handsome face suddenly looked oddly sinister in the candlelight.

Severus snorted and pushed past him into the room. The moment he stepped across the threshold, the lights in the room came to life.

The room was decorated in dark colors, mostly blue and black and the furniture was made of dark wood. In the middle of the room, by the wall, there was a huge bed with dark blue satin bedding. Severus shuddered and turned away.

Sirius was standing with his back to him and was inspecting the contents of a large wardrobe.

Severus directed his gaze to the House Elf still hovering by the door.

"Where is the bathroom, Mona?" he asked and the tiny creature jumped, apparently not expecting to be spoken to.

Then her little face brightened and she briskly walked to the wall on the right. She reached for something and suddenly a cleverly concealed door appeared.

"Mona prepared everything for sirs if sirs wanted have a bath," she explained, looking up at Severus.

"No, thank -"

"Don't bother, Mona," smirked Sirius, who was now leaning against the wardrobe. "My dear husband doesn't take baths. He would dissolve if he did."

Severus glared at him, agitated.

"Really?" asked Mona and Severus turned back to her. She wore curious and slightly concerned expression.

Sirius burst into laughter at this.

Mona, seeing Severus thunderous look, suddenly launched herself to the nearest wall and to Severus utter amazement began hitting it with her head.

"Bad House Elf! Mona bad House Elf! Mona will not ask stupid Elfish questions!" she screached.

Severus stayed rooted on the spot. He knew that the main job of House Elves is to serve without being seen, but never in his entire life had he witnessed a House Elf to behave like that. He had first met them at Hogwarts and those certainly hadn't acted like this. _Oh hell, married to Black **and** stuck with an insane House Elf!_

"Mona. Mona!" Sirius took four long strides and pulled the creature away from the wall. Then he knelt down to her. She fought him slightly, still mumbling something of stupid House Elves. Well, at least she had enough of common sense to know that she was acting like a dimwitted fool. There was no need for melodramatics.

"No one is angry at you," Sirius was explaining. Once again, he forgot to ask about Severus' opinion on that matter.

"I don't want to see you hurting yourself again, do you understand?" Sirius continued to lecture her. "A simple apology will be enough next time, OK?"

Mona nodded reluctantly. Then, most likely to cover her lapse, she jumped away from Sirius and ran to the other side of the room, directly to that monstrous thing some would probably call bed.

"If sirs need things," she said, standing by the side of the bed, "sirs only need to pull this lace." And saying this, she grabbed a rope, which hung down from the ceiling. She pulled at it and there was a quiet jingly sound.

Severus hoped that it was all, but someone above certainly hated him, because he would gladly live without the next piece of information the Elf offered to share with them:

"Mona know first night being important for wizards," she stated, quite oblivious to the wizards in question, who both blanched at the reminder of things that were yet to come. "And Mona also know what wizards sometimes like, so if sirs want, there is some chocolate and strawberries in kitchen ..."

Severus turned on his heel and headed for the bathroom, certainlyin noneed to hear the rest. Once there, he shut the door firmly behind himself and leaned heavily against it. He just stood there for a while, with his eyes shut, taking long deep breaths to calm himself down. Then he proceeded to the wash-basin and let the watter run from the tap.

He began stripping his clothes, slowly unbuttoning his white and gold jacket and untying his silken tie. He let them fall unceremoniously on the floor made of foggy-gray tiles, only to be joined moments later by his white shirt. He stepped to the basin again made a cup of his palms under the stream and then splashed some of the cold water onto his face. Some of it splattered on his neck and chest as well and he shivered.

Hell, it wasn't as if he had never had sex before, but how was supposed to handle this? And with Sirius Black, the bane of his very existence nonetheless. After his father's death his mother had made everything possible to ensure her and her son's proper return to the Wizarding World´s high society. And damned, if it wasn't the Return in Great Style. The first thing had been contacting all her old friends and connections and throwing party. The second thing – only two days after the aforementioned party – had been the engagement of her son to the oldest heir of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black. And while he had gotten on perfectly well with Black's younger brother Regulus, who was a few years younger and had actually been in Slytherin, he had never seen eye to eye with his older brother. But life had never been extremely kind to Severus and so he was now stuck with a husband he would most probably never hold a civil conversation with. And with a husband, who he was required to have an intercourse with, preferably at the first night of their union, in order to seal their vows properly, so there wouldn't be any complication with their magic later on.

Suddenly a nausea overcame him. He reached blindly forwards and caught the edge of the basin. He slowly lowered himself, until he was seated on the edge of a large bathtub. He thought of what would Sirius have said if he had thrown up and then had gone to the bedroom, shoved him on the bed and kissed him. Now, _that_ would be revenge. But why torture himself with the foul taste of vomit _and_ the taste of Black? Urgh, better not.

The dizziness vanished. He sighed and leaned forward to remove his shoes and socks. When he did that, he stood up, stopped the water and made his way back to the bedroom, leaving on the floor most of his wedding attire. He just hoped that there wouldn´t be any House Elves in the room anymore.

Stepping into the bedroom, his eyes fell immediately on the bed, where a figure laid sprawled.

"Switch the lights off, when you go to the bed, love, will you?" said Sirius in an emotionless voice.

Oh, God, could his life get any worse?

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I know I make mistakes, I just don´t know where!

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I'd really like to thank everyone for your kind reviews. When I posted it, I actually expected one or maybe two people giving me that imaginary declassing pat on the head, saying"well, your attempt is appreciated, but you had better go and play somewhere else". I hope, that some of you will enjoy reading the rest :-) 

S.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Nope. Not mine. I just took them for a walk. The plot is mine though,as are the contingent grammar or stylistic mistakes. Feel free to point them out, if you think you cannot live looking at them :-D

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Chapter 3. 

Sirius was bored.

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Oh, scratch that. He was _dying_ from boredom.

He was sitting on the porch in the back of house and gazed across the vast lawn to the spacious garden full of colorful flowerbeds, fiddling with his wedding ring. Beside him, opened book of Dragon Novels laid on the table. It was a beautiful sunny day, mid of July. Already three weeks of awkward silences, suspicious absences at lunch and generally avoiding each other. They hadn't uttered more than a few sentences a week, sometimes going on without speaking to one another for a whole day. The only thing they still shared was bed, and even that was probably just because they weren't able to talk properly of anything lest they began another of their shouting matches.

The thought of bed brought flush to his cheeks. Never in his dare he say eventful life had he experienced such a bizarre sexual encounter. They both had been laying on the bed without speaking, long after Severus had turned the lights off. Then suddenly – Sirius didn't bother to remember what had been said by whom to trigger it – they were in a heap of limbs and sheets, growling and hissing like animals. There hadn't been anything sexual about the fight, it had been more like letting out all the frustration of the situation they had never wanted to be part of. Sirius, who was physically in much better shape than his skinny husband, had won the fight in the end and pinned Severus down to the bed. Both had been breathing heavily but had glared angrily at one another, not repelled even by the fact that they hadn't been able to see each other properly in the dark. Their positions clearly established, altogether it had been the shortest and least satisfying intercourse Sirius ever had.

Fortunately, Sirius thought, they weren't required to have sex on regular basis, like some other couples had. And so they could blissfully ignore each other.

But right now his darling husband had barricaded himself in the library again and there wasn't anyone to keep him company.

He thought of going to visit Remus, as James and Lily had gone to Sweden and were to return sometime in August. But the werewolf was at the time head over heels in love with some French lawyer or whatever she was. They had met recently and couldn't be separated ever since. Sirius didn't feel like interrupting whatever they could be doing, even if Remus, as understanding and great friend as he was, would probably welcome him with open arms. He wouldn't want to impose on him. Besides, if he decided to go there after all, he would just be reminded that he hadn't had sex in three weeks. And good sex even longer.

He stood up and stretched. There wasn't anything to do in the house. He had been exploring it on his own the first week of their stay and found nothing interesting. That in itself wasn't that weird. When parents give their child something like a house, its traditionally void of any personal things and usually there are no remarkable items for the new family has to build their own new traditions and work out their style of life. Ergo, everything here was expensive, but nothing was interesting enough.

Even the library, where he was heading right now, lost its appeal after several days. He always considered himself someone who is quite fond of books, but when everything one can do day after day is reading, one has every right to ask for a break in the form of company of other people than is one's unsociable husband.

But when one has no other choice –

"What do you want?" Severus' cold voice resounded in the huge room, in which a sunlight poured through three large windows.

Sirius stood in the door. He felt his anger rising at the reaction at his arrival, but refrained himself from lashing back. After all, he wanted company, and if he lost temper now, then he would be forced to leave and either get bored again or search for some company in a local pub. Which wasn't any better, really. Their house was situated in the countryside far from London and as nice as the people were, both Wizards and Muggles here seemed regrettably extremely dull and uninteresting to him.

"To ask how are you doing," he said.

"Good. Now get out," was Severus' terse reply.

Normally Sirius would just growl and go away as requested but he noticed that Severus seemed distracted, not really taking notice of him. So he entered the room fully.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Take a guess. Five points to Gryffindor, if you get it right," Severus sneered, not looking at him.

Sirius smirked. He walked around the table at which Severus was sitting and sat down on the chair opposite of him. He took one of countless books skittered on the table and leafed through it.

"If I have ever been so nervous because of the NEWTs like you are because of this ..."

A growl in response, but nothing else.

Sirius smiled to himself. So far so good. No arguments nor flying sharp objects. It must have been the longest conversation without curses thrown at each other ever between the two of them.

"Have you eaten yet?" he asked.

Severus glared at him. Then he just sighed deeply.

"No," the dark-eyed man said quietly.

Sirius nodded. He stood up again and marched to the door. There hung a rope, exactly the same like the one in bedroom. He pulled at it and sooner than the jingly sound stopped, Mona the House Elf appeared.

"Is Master Sirius wishing things, sir?" she asked, apparently happy to be at service.

"Yes, Mona, bring us something to eat, please," he answered.

"Will sirs be eating here, sir?"

"Yes."

Mona nodded vigorously and left with a loud _pop_.

Moments later plates with various kinds of cheese, salami, fruit and bread and jug of pumpkin juice appeared.

They ate in silence, Sirius browsing through another of Severus' Potion books and his husband staring out of the window absently.

"They want you to memorize all of this rubbish?" Sirius asked, interrupting the first companionable they had ever shared in each other's presence.

"It's required, yes. You can't expect them to give you the title of Renowned Academic Master of Potions and Alchemy if you don't know every single thing there is to know about them."

"But Horsehead's biography aka How Did I Found Gillywater?"

"Yes."

"Armando's One Thousand And Thirty-four Ways How To Use Century Plant In Potions?"

"Yes."

"Kolmanov's Guide On The Use Of Baobab Roots? In Latin language?"

"Yes."

Sirius gaped at him for a while. Then shook his head and took another of the books.

"Well, at least one of these is comprehensible enough. Potions In Everyday Use by Gilderoy Lockhart."

"That's not a required text. I've got it here just because of the its affinity to the subject," Severus said, looking at the book in Sirius' hands with distaste. "As matter of fact, I bought it immediately when it appeared at Flourish and Blotts, three years ago. I read it always before I went to bed to have a bit good laugh."

Sirius stared at him incredulously. They both had known Gilderoy Lockhart at Hogwarts. He was four years older than them, very handsome boy and later on quite a striking man. He had been a Hufflepuff if Sirius recalled correctly, but with tongue so skilled that it put many of his previous snake-tongued Slytherin lovers to shame. They had never talked to each other while at school, but had met once accidentally, when Sirius graduated. And had been meeting since then. That had been before he got engaged to Snape though. He had liked Lockhart even if he was quite eccentric at times and had fondness for oddest colors. And he certainly had been proud of him when his first book, Travels with Trolls, came out as a big hit. They had celebrated all night long as they hadn't been able to get together before on account of Lockhart's stay in the Northern Europe because of his research on Trolls.

"Well, I'm not saying that I know so much about Potions as you do, but even I can recognize a good piece of work when I see one," he said frostily to the man sitting opposite of him.

"No, you can't. If he were good, he would be on the list of books recommended by Magical Science Institute in Rome. Most of the Potions Masters don't recognize him as a good Potion maker, let alone someone who should be allowed to write a book about the subject. Everything he wrote can be easily found in much better Potion texts," was a smug reply.

Sirius leaned back in his chair, contemplating the prideful man across him. "You know, just because he isn't on some stupid list of a high-rated university God knows where in Italy doesn't mean that he is automatically a bad author. He is well known even outside of Britain. And he managed something no one of those Potion Master of yours had: he actually wrote something about Potions comprehensible enough for everyone."

"Hmpf, more like he got someone to write it for him and then bribed him to let him take credit. I imagine he would be rather good in persuading someone, don't you think?" Severus said, looking straight in Sirius' eye.

_Ah_, Sirius thought, _so he knows_. He had no idea how did his husband find out the piece of information about Sirius helping Lockhart from the Aurors because of his connections, but he hadn't been that surprised by it either.

"Are you jealous?" Sirius asked mockingly.

He smirked at Severus' affronted look.

"Well, you should he," he continued. "He was a fabulous lay, you know."

He noted with satisfaction that Severus winced at this, but almost imperceptibly. Sirius was sure that a casual onlooker wouldn't have seen it, but he was specially looking for it. And he wasn't disappointed.

"Fine, why didn't you tell your parents that you wanted to marry him instead?" Severus replied slowly. "I'm sure you both would be perfectly situated for it, cheating on each other every chance you'd get. But I certainly wouldn't want to be there when you'd have to admit parentage of your children."

Sirius stood up and headed for the door, planning on going out after all, maybe for a drink or five. It was useless to stay in here with the spiteful bastard. But he couldn't leave without having the legendary last word.

"You know what, husband dear? At least he has got the looks for getting anyone to sleep with him without having to fear of them flinching at his every touch."

And he walked out of the library and then went down the stairs.

Severus caught with him in the foyer.

"Where the hell do you think you are going?" he asked, clearly furious.

Sirius looked at him. He looked like a thundercloud, dark eyebrow furrowed and two reddish spots on the cheeks. Nope. This vicious ugly bastard wasn't worth his attention.

"Out," he barked back.

"Then if you are going to some slut, don't you dare to bring them into my house," Severus growled and his dark eyes sparkled with hate.

Sirius' eyes widened at the git's arrogance. He stepped towards him so his face a few inches from Severus'. He took a full advantage of the few extra inches he had over his husband, who unfortunately didn't look intimidated at all.

"Your house?" Sirius hissed. "I think the house is certainly more mine than yours, husband dear, and I have certainly every right to bring in here whomever I desire!"

Severus smirked. "No, actually it isn't, _husband dear_. We have equal right to it. And I'm sure your mother would be very interested in how you threat her wedding gift. By bringing whores in here."

Sirius stepped back. Then he raised his chin and sneered nastily.

"Okay, babe," he said slowly. "So enjoy the house yourself. I even grant you the permission to actually bring someone in here to keep you company." A short pause. Then a smirk. "That is, if there is someone who would be interested in you."

He opened the front door and walked out. Then he turned in one last glance at the man he was married to.

"And good luck on your exam next week. Have a fun in Rome. And you may cancel our honeymoon trip to the Seychelles. I know how you detest being in the sun."

And with that he closed the door in the man's face. He breathed in the hot summer. He looked down at his left hand, where the ring resided on his ring-finger. He pulled it down, contemplating to throw it away, but decided against it and just put it in the back pocket of his tight-fitting jeans. A wide grin spread across his face. He was free.

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A bit longer ... good enough? 

Stormraven - well, maybe there will be a little lemon for you, but not so soon, I´d say. I will try, but no promises - this being my first fic and all. If I don´t like what I write, I don´t put it in the story. I don´t like forceful approach to writting... :-)

To all my reviewers: BIG THANK YOU:-D You have no idea what your reviews mean for me. And sorry for the long delay. You know, school and all. But now I have holidays ...

S.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Not mine – I don't think you are surprised by it :-D

I´m sorry it took so longbut have got a valid excuse: I hadgone skiing, hit my head andbeen sent to the hospital with concussion. My head hurt so much that I couldn´t even look at the computer for long enough to finish this chapter.

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Chapter 4

"... And if you could get those green and gold ribbons as well, Mr. Black," a dry voice of old Mr. Thornton resounded in the lab at the back of the shop.

Severus didn't bother with a reply. He scanned the shelves. Finally he found what he had been searching for and reached for it. He carefully inspected the small crystal flask withneon pinkliquid in itand nodded to himself. He stepped off the ladder and went to the work bench by opposite wall. He carefully laid the the flask in a fancy box with pink satin cushioning, then grabbed heap of colorful ribbons, took the box and exited the lab.

"Oh, thank you, my boy," said Mr Thornton distractedly and proceeded to tie up gift boxes from a large pile on the shop counter with the ribbons. Severus set the pinkish box on the counter in front of a small woman with huge glasses. She smiled at him widely and winked would-be flirtatiously and he gave her an appalled look and disappeared in the lab again.

He looked around the room and noted the mess it was in. Empty vials and flacons everywhere as well as miles of colorful ribbons and laces and piles of cauldrons and ladles, not to mention Potion ingredients and tools. He suppressed a groan. This would take about another hour to clean up. He raised his wand and waved it in the direction of the cauldrons. They began floating to the sink and wash themselves.

He liked his job at the Diagon Alley but at times like this it was extremely exhausting. He was told that it was worst right before new school year, which he wouldn't know for he came in October. But if it was anything like this craze right before Christmas, he was sure he would go mad then.

He looked up when his employer, an ancient and tiny but still lively man with untidy grayish hair and piercing gray eyes, came in.

"Let's just get all the ingredients stored up and then we can go and get some sleep, Mr Black. I'll send my grandchildren tomorrow in here to do the rest," said Mr Thornton."

"That's all right, sir. I think I can manage," Severus said, giving a box of daisy dust on its place ona shelf.

"Oh, let it be. They'll at least have a chance to earn a few extra Knuts before Christmas," Mr Thornton smiled.

Severus nodded and they worked in companionable silence for a while.

When they were finished, they both took their winter cloaks from the hooks beside the door, Mr Thornton extinguished the candlelights with a wave of his wand and they left the shop together.

Everything outside was under the tight reign of Lady Winter. The street lamps were throwing yellowish light at the snow-covered store signs of shops. Frosty wind was sweeping snow flakes in the backs of the few figures that were hurrying down the Alley. Severus wondered absently if perhaps the same snow calamity occurred in Muggle London as well but somehow doubted it. The climate was usually rather warm on the British Isles but the Wizards must have always had something special, it seemed.

He walked alongside Mr Thornton to the Leaky Cauldron, head bowed against cold wind. They stopped at a brick wall on the east end of the Alley. Mr Thornton tapped at it with his wand and the bricks stood apart for them to go through. They crossed a small backyard and found themselves in a hall leading to the main area of the famous Wizarding inn.

"Won't you go and have a drink with me, Mr Black?" Severus' boss asked.

"No, I don't think so, sir," Severus replied. "You were right, I really need to get a bit of sleep."

"Oh, of course. Then I wish you Merry Christmas, Severus."

Severus nodded and smiled a little. He was already turning to leave, but the voice of his employer stopped him again:

"And don't you dare to come to the shop tomorrow."

Severus turned and saw Mr Thornton smiling.

"But sir -" he began.

"No, my boy, you will not. You will stay at home and prepare everything for the Christmas. And it's an order." Mr Thornton wouldn't allow him any objections, though he was smiling and his eyes were twinkling. Severus liked the old man quite a lot. Mr Thornton didn't make idle chitchats but was still very pleasant to be around, he was intelligent and sharp-witted and hard-working and seemed to quite like Severus. And he was a great Potion Master and didn't need anyone to tell him that. Severus learned very much from him in those three short months.

"An by the way, won't your husband be returning home as well?" Mr Thornton winked at him from under his white eyebrow.

Severus started at the question. He looked at Mr Thornton wide-eyed. A wave of embarrassment washed over him for some inexplicable reason.

"W-well, I really don't know. He hasn't written yet, so I'm not sure,if I'm to expect him or not." He cursed himself silently for the way his voice wavered.

Mr Thornton seemed not to notice.

"But of course he will arrive, my boy. Who wouldn't want to spent Christmas time with their family, right?" he waved his hand in dismissal of any thoughts that would indicate the opposite.

Right, thought Severus. But he knew from his own experience that an exception generally confirmed the rule. And if he knew someone who was exceptionally good at not living by rules set for him, it was exactly his run-away husband.

"Yes, but you know how it is. Sometimes you just have to work, Christmas or not. Well, sir, see you next year. Good bye."

And he apparated away, before the other man could say anything else.

He landed on the path in front of the house. He opened the door and stepped in the foyer, where he was immediately greeted by a House Elf.

"Hello, Panthalasa," he responded to the greeting, giving his soaked winter cloak to the smaller of two House Elves in his household. The Elf took it and vanished with a deep bow.

He walked in the living-room and there he fell gracelessly into one of the armchairs before the fireplace. He laid his head on his forearm resting on the armrest and stretched his long legs before him. He fought the fatigue but it was an uneven battle. He hadn't slept properly for days, always getting up at five in the morning and going to bed by midnight, and in between preparing and bottling potions for fame and glory and love and beauty and God knew what else.

"Master Severus, you wake up!" Mona's voice caused him to open his eyes with a blink. He hadn't even realized that he had closed them. "Supper is ready."

"Very well, Mona," he sighed, holding back a yawn.

He stood up and followed Mona to the dinning room. There he sat at his usual place, at the end of table closer to the door. The food appeared in a moment, chicken soup and pasta with vegetables. Severus didn't pay much attention to it, he actually tried to stay awake long enough so as not to fall asleep with his face in the soup plate. He also deliberately avoided looking at the other end of the table, where a single red candle was glowing in the middle of a small wreath of spruce branches and red ribbons. The House Elves set it for Sirius who, they had explained, should be led home by the light. He had tried to convince them about stupidity of such a tradition, but they seemed to take Sirius' walk-out as their personal debacle. In the end he had given in and stated that he could put up with that blasted tradition but only on holidays. But why waste fine beeswax on that sod was beyond him.

Severus pushed the plate with half-eaten soup away. He stood up and headed for the bedroom.

Never in his life had he been alone on Christmas. He was either with his parents, who, though not overly affectionate, at least had been there with him. Then later, when he was at Hogwarts, he had been allowed to hang around with his schoolmates. And yes, he could go and spent the holidays with his mother or even Black family but according to his mother's last letter to him she had more than enoughof funwith some wizard named Grayson and he certainly wasn't in the mood for celebrating with his husband's family, whose members he hadn't seen since few days after Sirius' and his wedding.

He opened the bedroom door, took a few steps with his eyes practically closed and fell on the bed –

"Bloody hell what's this!" he yelled, when his head bumped against something hard. Severus didn't take time to identify the offending thing. He just pushed it off the bed and it fell with a resounding thwack.

Growling, he peered over the edge of the bed at it.

A large rectangular box made of glossy-blueish colored carton paper.

Severus stared at it impassively for a few minutes. He asked himself again why did he bought it. _Oh, better not to think about it_.

Inside the box, Severus knew, laid a neatly folded winter cloak he bought as a Christmas present, in case his husband returned. He now wasn't sure what he had been thinking. Maybe he could write it off as a lapse caused by the House Elves' apparently infectious sentimentality and belief in happy endings.

Severus stood up from the bed and picked the box up. He looked around the room contemplating where to put it before throwing it away next day. Perhaps some homeless would find it useful in the winter season.

In the end he settled for putting it on the chest of drawers by the wall, behind a huge vase made of cut glass. Satisfied for now with the thing being out of his way he proceeded to remove his clothes. Uncharacteristically for a man as neat and organized as him, he didn't go about his usual evening hygiene, didn't bother to fold his clothes and setting them on the chair as usual and didn't even put his pajamas on. He just got in the bed again, naked, pulled the covers over himself and fell asleep almost immediately.

In the following days he would wake up every morning, go about necessary things that had to be done and then close himself in the library and read until Mona or Panthalasa would go and wake him up long after midnight, when he fell asleep in the armchair. He would neverthrow the blue box away. And the cold Christmas morning would catch him in half-empty bed and with sudden unswerving certainty that no, his husband wouldn't be returning home anytime soon.

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Well, how long it might take for Sirius to return?

Sunshine Pie - Thank you! For your praise AND for the imaginary cheesecake AND for your idea. I think I might use it but I don´t think I´ll let Severus actually invent the Wolfsbane. We know the name of the inventor of this potion from HBP, I believe, but thank you for the concept anyway :-D

Viskii & Pandora de Romanus - Thank you for your honesty. It means really much to me and I'll try to get better. After all, that's the main purpose of my writing in English. And if I don't get better ... well, at least I get to tease the Englishism freaks. But all the same I'm glad that you read the story and that you perhaps even like it :-)

S.


	5. Chapter 5

I'm sorry it took so long, but you know ... school and so on. And also – I had to find Sirius again,since it was me, who lost him, wasn't it?

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Chapter 5 

Dry leaves were sweeping around his feet in a light autumn breeze as he strolled down the street in leisurely way, looking curiously around at the small houses and cars and people milling about. Nothing much had changed in Godric's Hollow from the time he had last been there, it seemed.

He turned left and found himself on a sidewalk leading to a nice two-story house. He walked up the stone stairs and then to the front door, pulled his hands out of pockets of his jeans and pressed the bell button.

For a while there was only a silence. Then few quick steps were heard. He stared expectantly at the white wooden door. And it opened.

"Hullo," a small voice said.

He looked down. Before him stood an adorable boy, no more than three years old, with tousled black hair, round cheeks, and button of nose. A spitting image of his father, he was sure. He knelt down so his eyes were on the same level with the child's.

"Hello there. Are your mummy and daddy at home?" he asked smiling.

The boy nodded carefully, looking straight in his eye. There was no doubt about who he inherited the incredibly green eyes from.

"Will you get them for me?" he asked again, amused at the boy's apparent distrust.

Another nod and the door was slammed in his face with more force than he would have expected. He stood up again. He had to admit that he was a bit nervous about seeing Potters again and right now he was itching for a cigarette. He didn't take one though for he knew that James or Lily would open the door anytime now. Hell, had it really been that long? He could almost swear that –

"Sirius!"

Lily Potter stood in the door, long red hair neatly clasped at the back of her head, green eyes wide in surprise and mouth hanging open rather unattractively. Sirius smirked at her expression. That seemed to snap her out of the shock.

"Sirius!" she exclaimed again and threw herself at him. She embraced him enthusiastically for few moments and then pulled him in the house before he could utter a word of protest. Not that he actually wanted to protest.

She lead him into the house, yelling excitedly for James, her husband.

Sirius was seated in the living-room, given a cup of tea and then finally attacked by flood of question from the obviously overjoyed redhead.

The seemingly endless stream was interrupted, when a tall lean black-haired man with glasses entered the room with his son tucked safely in his arms.

The moment James caught sight of Sirius, he set the boy on the ground. Sirius stood up again. Lily behind him was smiling widely. She picked up the boy, who had run to her.

James managed to cover his surprise rather quickly, he was now wearing an unreadable expression as he stared at Sirius, whose smile faltered. Maybe he really should have written first.

He almost covered, when his old friend began advancing on him, and then gave out a surprised squeak, when he was engulfed in a bearer hug.

"Where have you been, you bloody fool?" James Potter laughed and Sirius felt relief wash over him. James noticed this, of course, and laughed even harder at how easily Sirius swallowed the bait. "What," he asked cheerfully. "Thought I wanted curse you, didn't you?"

Sirius didn't even attempt an glare. He just laughed, perfectly relaxed now.

He was once again ushered on the couch.

"Now speak, you rascal," James ordered. "Where, when, what, why, and with whom."

"Oh, no! Wait-wait-wait!" Sirius stopped him, turning to Lily. "Before I spill all my secrets, you have to tell me ... who is this," he said, smiling widely at the boy on the woman's lap.

The boy smiled back tentatively, seemingly liking the foreigner already.

Lily gasped and James breathed out an embarrassed Oh!.

"Of course!" Lily said. "Harry, darling, this is Sirius Black, your dad's and my friend from school. Sirius, this is Harry James Potter – our son."

"Hello," said Harry.

"Well, Harry, I'm really pleased to meet you." Sirius leaned to him smiling. "How old are you?"

"Four. I had birthday in summer."

"Two months ago actually. On thirty-first of July," Lily supplied.

"Heh, big boy already, aren't you? If I had known that your parents have got such a wonderful son, I'd have bought you a racing broom," Sirius said.

"Well, in that case I'm glad you hadn't," said Lily. "He has got three brooms already. Although it is entirely your own fault that you hadn't known. You could at least sent an owl, you know. We had no idea, where you had gone to."

"Hey!" Sirius tried to defend himself. "I did sent you a Christmas card, did I not?"

"Yeah. Two years ago."

"Well, I was already settled down in Trenton, New Jersey. You could have written back."

"Your Christmas card didn't say a thing about you being settled anywhere. We thought that you were still traveling."

"You could have tried."

"Sure. You wouldn't have replied anyway, would you?"

"Well, I had a lot of things on my mind." Sirius smiled apologetically.

Lily shook her head and sighed.

"Where's that new Jessie?" Harry spoke up. Everyone looked at him.

Sirius laughed and flicked Harry's nose with his finger. "Well, I don't know about a new Jessie as I know only one lady named Jessie and she is terribly old and wrinkly, but New Jersey is a state in America. Far, far away from here. I could take you there, when you are old enough, what do you say?"

The boy turned to his mother. "Can I go, Mummy?" he asked, eye gleaming excitedly.

Lily glared at Sirius. "Gods, you are impossible. You haven't been back for an hour and you'd have already taken my son away."

Sirius laughed again.

"You're just like my dog Alwin, do you know that, Sirius? You bark just like he, when you laugh," stated Harry.

Sirius stopped laughing immediately. Harry blinked and his adorable angel cheeks blushed hotly. He began stammer an apology, but it was interrupted by James' sudden guffaw. He was laughing so hard that he actually slid off the armchair he had been sitting on and seemed to be losing the ability to breathe.

Lily couldn't help but chuckle as well. Sirius grinned, too. Harry just looked unsure. Sirius wanted to assure him that nothing happened, but at the sight of his friend rolling on the ground, he wasn't able to form a simple sentence without another bark of laugh, so he just shook his head at the boy and smiled. Harry bit his lower lip and nodded. Clever boy, he was.

James' outburst subsided at last and he was now laying on the floor, glasses askew and panting.

Lily, perched on her place on the couch with Harry still on her lap, asked with amused astonishment: "Could you perhaps tell us, what was the cause of such a mirth?"

James wiped tears off his cheeks with the back of his hand and chuckled again, looking directly at Sirius. "He did hit on it, don't you think?"

Sirius smirked. No one, except for James, Remus and Peter Pettigrew, another of his old Hogwarts schoolmates, knew that he was an Animagus, a wizard able to change himself into the form of an animal. Sirius' shape was the one of a huge black dog. Every Animagus had to be registered at the Ministry of Magic, along with specifications of their shape in the most detailed way. James, Peter and him had become Animagi in their fifth year at the school, when they had discovered about Remus being a werewolf, so they could be with him and ease up his loneliness. For yes, werewolves are indeed very dangerous to people, but a werewolf without a pack can occasionally accept some animals or Animagi for its pack mates. None of them had ever gotten the registration because it would've resulted not only in severe punishments, if not expulsion, but also in terminating those adventurous full moon nights in Forbidden Forest.

"You haven't gotten it yet, have you? The license?" James asked, concern shinning in his eyes.

Sirius shrugged, uneasy around Lily, when it came to such a topic. James didn't seem to mind her presence, though.

"What are you talking about?" asked Lily suspiciously. She narrowed her eyes at the two of them. Then she looked at Sirius and gasped. "Oh no! Not him, too!"

"What?" he asked carefully.

"You are an Animagus, too?" Lily whispered with her hand over her mouth.

Sirius looked over at James. "I got my license a year ago. Belief me, Siri, it was a nightmare to explain to them how I became an Animagus without the Head Auror knowing," sighed James. "And Ministry knows about Wormtail as well," he added.

If Sirius hadn't been so surprised by this revelation, he would have noticed the worried looks that passed between the Potters at the mention of the old Peter Pettigrew's nickname.

"Just please, do it immediately, when you have a bit of time," prompted James.

Sirius nodded, returning James' look seriously.

"And what exactly is your shape, Sirius?" asked Lily, suddenly more curious than worried.

Sirius smirked and stood up. And before she could say "please, just tell me you aren't an orangutan or something like that", a large black dog stood before them.

Harry in her arms cried out in fright and Lily stood up quickly and moved so that the couch stood between them and the dog and her husband.

"Not in front of Harry!" she shrieked and James winced.

Sirius turned back. "It's not as if I licked my balls," he mumbled sulkily. James beside him chuckled. Fortunately, Lily didn't appear to hear that.

"Merlin's socks, Sirius, you never cease to amaze me," she breathed. "A Grim?"

Sirius could only smile again. He was proud of his animal form.

"Yeah, Padfoot always seemed to handle Moony rather well," he wore a proud expression. A snort beside him prompted him to say: "But of course, where would we be now without our dear Prongs?" James poked him in the ribs with his elbow childishly.

"Hey, and how is Remus, by the way?" Sirius then asked.

"From what we know splendid," shrugged James. "He lives in Brighton with Sofia. You plan on visiting him, I hope?"

"Yes, of course. Why shouldn't I?" Sirius rolled his eyes. "I'll just pick my things up at the Leaky Cauldron, deposit them in Highclere -"

"You haven't been at home yet?" Lily nipped in, her voice incredulous.

Sirius blinked. He couldn't find a flaw in his scheme. "No, why? I arrived this afternoon, let the bags at the pub and went here."

"And you haven't gone to see your husband at all?"

Sirius looked away sheepishly. _Oh, so _that_ is the problem_.

"Well, seeing as I'm bonded to him with my life I rather thought I'd have visited the people I actually care for first, because I'll have more time to spend with him than I would have wished for."  
"Sirius ..." James began warily but then stopped and just sighed.

Lily stared at him reproachfully.

"You know, he was here," she said quietly. "He came asking if were here or if we perhaps knew, where you were. He looked as if he hadn't slept for at least month. He really seemed worried about you and wanted to know if you were all right."

Sirius wore an incredulous expression and seemed unable to say a word. Then: "All right, so he tried to stalk me?"

"No, you dolt!" Lily looked really annoyed. "He assured us that he didn't want your address or anything, he just wanted to know that you hadn't done anything stupid and hadn't gotten arrested or so."

Sirius gaped at her.

"He said you had had a row, not the first one,I know, but according to him you had stormed out of the house and hadn't returned for days." She paused for a moment. "He asked us to contact him, if we had ever gotten any news about you. Not your whereabouts, only if you were all right. He contacted Remus as well. James payed him a visit immediately after we had gotten your Christmas card ..."

"... but I sent him one, too. Yes." Sirius stared blankly at the wall.

"I've met him a few times in Diagon Alley. He had a job there, if I remember correctly," Lily continued in a gentler tone, surveying Sirius carefully.

He finally woke up from his haze. "Well, let me just enjoy your company for a moment longer and then ..." he said with a shrug and usual easy smile.

He stayed another hour and half. Then he apparated to the Leaky Cauldron, heavier of a pack of home-baked biscuits from Lily. He got all of his luggages, reduced everything that could survive the Reducto spell, and apparated again.

He landed on the gravel path leading to the house. His and his husband's house. Has it really been five years since he had last been there?

He shook his head and stepped up to the front door. He suddenly felt the urge to knock, but deciding it would be stupid to knock on the door of his own house, he attempted to reach for the handle and open it himself instead. Such a task proved quite difficult as he still was rather heavily loaded with his bags.

To his relief and horror, the door opened itself before him. He half expected the black greasy head of his husband. But behind the door stood a House Elf, whose expression changed in a second from a politely deprecating one to openly surprised one.

"Master Sirius!" he exclaimed in wonder.

"Ah, hello, could you help me with these?"

The Elf nodded and Sirius put some of his burden aside gratefully. He stepped in the house before the creature and looked around the hall the dimly lit hall _Strange_, he thought, _I would have expected him to put at least black curtains everywhere_.

He turned back to the Elf. "Well, Pantaloons, I wish to put everything in the bedroom next to the Master Suite, would you? I expect my husband does use the Master Suite? Merlin, I hope he hasn't turned the house in a chemical factory ..." The last bit was a muttered statement of his worst fear.

"Of course, Master Sirius. And yes, he does use the Master Suite, whenever he is at home."

Sirius gave the Elf a funny look. He didn't know why, but there was something slightly out of order with him ... or her. He didn't really remember. "Whenever he is at home? What does that mean? Where is he, when he isn't at home?"

"He is at Hogwarts, sir. He comes home only on holidays," was a prompt reply.

Sirius was too shocked to respond. What the hell did the man do at Hogwarts?

The House Elf took his silence as a permission to leave.

"I you need anything, just call for me or Mona, sir. We will be in the kitchen. Oh, and by the way, my name is Panthalasa. Like the super-ocean, that existed over sixty million years ago. Good night, sir."

And the creature vanished, leaving absolutely bewildered Sirius staring after him.

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Well, that was really long, don't you think? I'm sorry to say that I don't think that any other chapter will be this long ... 

And of course, thank you all for reading this and my love to all reviewers. You are great! I'll welcome any suggestions, advices, etc.

Dear **Sunshine Pie**, if there is ever a competition for the best reviewer ever, you will surely get my vote :-D

**Pandora de Romanus** I'm from Czech Republic, so my mother language is Czech.And thank you again for your reviews.:-D

**benagail24**, who said Snape isn't pretty? I didn't! That was Sirius. Butshould know better, shouldn't he:-D


	6. Chapter 6

Ehm ... hello :-) How long has it been? Three weeks? I´m really sorry, but I had to prepare myself for an exam in German language. I don´t think I will get the certificate, but hey, try to speak about political systemes and chidlren´s work for twenty minutes with foreigners! I could´ve updated sooner, but if you could hear me speaking in German or English lessons, you would have been glad I didn´t. My teachers certainly weren´t pleased when I was saying things like "Ja, wir were there, because ich ..."

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Chapter 6 

The lesson was nearing to its end and the students were finishing last touches on their assigned Domito Potions.

Severus sat on his place behind teacher's desk and watched absently the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw sixth years bottling the olive green liquid and cleaning their working place. He usually enjoyed teaching this particular class, for sixth and seventh year Potion classes were attended mostly by those, who had an interest in Potion making or needed the knowledge for their chosen jobs and acted accordingly, but today didn't look promising. No, not promising at all.

Everything had begun with him getting up late, barely making it to the classroom and preparing ingredients for today's lessons and missing breakfast entirely. Well, it can happen, can't it? His first lesson of the day had passed normally enough – standard two blown-up cauldrons and a fist fight between fifth year Gryffindor and Slytherin Quidditch captains, which had resulted in taking enormous amount of points of both Houses. The next period of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw fourth years had caught him tending a student that had ended up knocking a full cauldron of boiling hot Blue Fairy Flame Potion on herself. Lunch had, thanks Merlin, passed without further accidents; no one will notice the pudding smudge on his black teaching robes, he was sure. And now his last lesson of the day. Last lesson of the week as well. And everything was going just fine. Quarter of an hour and he was free for the whole weekend.

He stood up, slowly walking along the work benches.

"It's of too thick, Miss Kalana. Too many crocodile scales. Try to set it right. Use red weed."

"You should have put that piece of chocolate into your potion, Mr Wade, not into your mouth. Let it be, just bottle it and give it on my desk."

"Mr Pendleton." Severus sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Could you perhaps enlighten me and the rest of class as to what did you do to reach this ... unique state of your cauldron, clothes and closest surroundings?"

Unfortunate Mr Pendleton was indeed covered from head to toe with a green slime, looking pitifully up at Severus.

He mumbled something. Severus didn't catch a single word of it.

"Mr Pendleton." Oh God, his headache was coming. "I have never thought of you as an idiot. And I have been almost certain that you were competent enough to follow instructions. Do you want to convince me otherwise?"

The boy shook his head no, looking at his slime-covered feet.

"Could you then at least tell me, why didn't you ask for advice one of your fellow students?"

Mr Pendleton didn't raise his head at first, but looked at Severus from under his eyelashes. Seeing the expectant expression on his Potion Master's face, he squared his shoulders and finally rose his head and spoke up loudly and clearly in sudden rush of something Severus would think of as Gryffindor-induced stupidity.

"You would take points if I did."

Severus' eyebrows rose up slowly. Well, it was true, he supposed. He had been known as a rather strict instructor in the two previous years he had been teaching at Hogwarts and there really wasn't any reason to change it at the beginning of his third.

"So I would," he said. "But in that case you could have asked me. That's what I'm here for, after all. Contrary to popular belief, I'm not here because I take pleasure in shouting at the students or taking points, Mr Pendleton. I'm here for you to come to if you don't understand anything. Is that clear?" He paused, noting that the bravery left the boy's face by the first words of his speech. Well, that didn't take much, did it? "I will give you the possibility to show me that you aren't such a dunderhead you appeared to be today. You will come here on Monday afternoon, brew the Domito Potion again and show me the effects on an animal of my choosing. If you don't come or fail completely, do remember that it will be already second Potion from the beginning of this year. Your marks would suffer greatly. Now clean up the mess and leave."

He turned to the rest of silent students.

"If you have finished, put the labeled bottles on my desk. I shall tell you the results next Friday."

They did as they were told and hurried away as quickly as they could.

Mr Pendleton was scrubbing the neon-green mucus, red-faced and sweating.

Severus paid no more attention to him and returned to his desk instead. He began carefully inspecting the contents of each labeled vial.

He didn't even pause when someone knocked on the door.

"Enter!" he called.

"Good afternoon, Severus," a melodious voice said.

Severus set the vial he had been holding down and looked up to the smiling face of his colleague. "Good afternoon, Aventine," he said and gave the blond Defense against Dark Arts teacher a small smile in return. Then he shifted his gaze over the other man's shoulder to the Mr Pendleton, who seemed to be done with the task of cleaning up his personal catastrophe. "Finished?" he asked brusquely.

The man called Aventine turned and his smiled even wider at the sight at one of his students. "Ah, hello, Balthazar. I hope you are not in detention?" The boy shook his head in negation and then his gaze flickered to the Potion teacher. What he saw must have caused either immense fear or huge relief for he was out of the classroom sooner than it seemed physically possible.

The DADA teacher looked amused. The easy smile hovered around his mouth even as he stepped behind the chair Severus was sitting on. He placed his hands on Severus' shoulders lightly and when the black-haired man didn't flinch, he began massaging the stiff muscles on his back and neck.

"Bad day?" he asked quietly.

Severus snorted. "What gave you the idea?"

Aventine chuckled. "You're all tensed up and you're scowling more than usual."

"I'm just tired, that's all. I plan on going to bed early tonight." Severus sighed and leaned into the touch which was having such a calming effect on him.

Aventine's voice washed over him like soothing balm. "That sounds lovely." Severus eyes drifted shut. He could feel himself relaxing slowly. "I wouldn't mind going to bed early, too," Aventine whispered.

Severus eyes snapped open once again and he jerked his head. The hands left his shoulders immediately.

"I – I am sorry, Severus!" Aventine stammered an apology. "I shouldn't have –"

Severus turned in his chair to look directly at him. He searched in the sincere face of man he considered a friend. He could easily lose himself in the mossy green eyes that reminded him of heavy mist in a forest, right after the rain has stopped.

He averted his gaze from the the man and stood up, summoning a vial-holder from a nearby cabinet with Potion tools with an Accio spell and setting the student's vials into it. "So, did you venture down here only to give me a massage?" he asked finally.

The tension of previous few moments evaporated immediately.

"Would it be a bad thing?" Aventine asked a little challengingly. He bowed his head at Severus' warning glare, but he must have seen the small answering smile tugging at the Potion professor lips for he smiled again and proceeded to leafing through some student's essays on the desk, completely at ease. "Well, no. I actually came to ask you if you'd go to Hogsmeade with me. Mr Mayberry has sent me an owl with the message that he has got the books that I had ordered. I wanted to pick them up and go for a drink to Three Broomsticks. What do you say?"

Severus didn't answer, so he looked up from the papers. His dark-haired colleague was at the moment putting the holder of vials into the cabinet.

"That is, if you don't have another plans. I wouldn't hold you up late."

"Yes, you would," Severus answered. He was still standing with his back to Aventine, but he could almost see the smirk he was sure the younger man was now wearing. Yes, he would indeed keep him in the pub and awake all night if Severus let him. Bloody impish thing, he was. "But I'll go anyway. I need get out of here."

Aventine nodded. "O.K. I'll just go and get my cloak. See you in a few minutes in the Entrance Hall."

And he left with Severus' nod of approval.

------------

"That was really rude of him."

"Just let it be already, Aventine."

"No, Severus. Frankly, I have half mind set on returning back there and let that poor excuse for a wizard have a piece of my mind."

"I say forget it. He was drunk and I don't care anymore."

They walked side by side on the path on the outskirts of Forbidden Forest, thick magical forest stand that lined the grounds of Hogwarts' School and closest surroundings of Hogsmeade, probably the last and only entirely wizarding village in the United Kingdom. Severus' dark green cloak was torn in tatters on the lower hem and he was limping slightly. The remnants of a healing spell were still tingling unpleasantly.

"I hope you will at least claim compensations for the cloak," Aventine blazed out.

"I don't know who to send it to. If you hadn't noticed, I was too busy with avoiding any furniture flying my way to ask his name."

"Crispin Tykehead. Lives in Cashlie, Scotland. I asked Rosmerta, when you went to wash yourself."

Severus shot him an exasperated look. Aventine raised his eyebrows in very Severus-like fashion.

"Look, Severus, I admit a small accident can happen to anyone, but he didn't even apologize to you. You could get seriously hurt. And calling you names certainly didn't help the situation either."

Severus shrugged, uncharacteristically placid.

The castle came in the view against the blue and gray wall of mountains. The descending sun illuminated the massif, making the top edge glow pink and white.

"Perhaps I wasn't his type," he mused.

Aventine stared at him incredulously for a moment, but then he chuckled. "Well, that still doesn't give him any rights to call you _that_."

"Hmm. Well, I really shouldn't have expected any less from this day, when I got up this morning. Look, I will send him a letter, requesting an apology and reparation for the cloak, and you will cease the nagging immediately, can you?"

Aventine shook his head, lips pressed in a thin line, but nodded nonetheless. "Okay."

The remainder of walk passed in companionable silence. Both were enjoying the tranquility of the early evening as well as the comforting presence of one another.

They entered the castle's Entrance Hall together, their shoulders almost touching. The sound of thousand voices was heard from the Great Hall. They arrived at diner time. Aventine walked Severus down to the door of his office and Severus refrained himself from saying anything about not needing to be accompanied like a schoolgirl after a date.

He turned to Aventine. "Good night."

"You won't go to the diner, then?"

Severus responded by shaking his head no´.

Aventine made a step closer. "So we'll see each other in the morning," he whispered.

"Yes."

Aventine smiled at him and turned to go. The hand on his wrist surprised him and he gasped aloud, but recovered quickly and willingly stepped back to Severus. It was the first time Severus made any move on him and Aventine looked incredibly pleased about it.

"Thank you for standing by me today," the dark man murmured.

"Anytime,"Aventine breathed.

They turned away from each other and went their's separate ways.

Severus opened the door to his office, lost in thoughts. He wondered why he hadn't given in to Aventine's advances yet. He certainly was nice and intelligent enough, reliable and good friend.

He turned to hang his cloak on the rack behind the door.

Maybe he should do it. He would anyway, in time. There's only so much temptation a man can keep himself from. It wasn't as if he cheated on his husband after all –

"Hello, Severus."

He whirled around at the sound of _that_ voice. There, in front of his desk, stood the very man Severus thought he wouldn't see in long time to come yet, if ever at all.

"Surprise, husband dear."

* * *

Thank you again, everyone who read it and twice to those of you who found time to review. You are all great. ((bowing lowly)) 

**erotas** - Your wish will be granted. Whatever the readers wish. But don't expect any pregnant males till the last chapters :-D

**siriusly viking** - Heh, thank you. To your question about Harry - I had really hard time thinking about him, but in the end I decided leave him be in this story. It' s my Alternative Universe after all and it's about Severus and Sirius. The explaining of the whole Voldemort thing would take too much of time and it might also damage the main plot line. I know that I personaly don't like it, if a story is suddenly clogged down with unnecessary information that does have practically nothing to do with the main plot line. But must tell you, he isn't entirely left out. You will know in later chapters. If I don´t forget, that is :-D

And yes, I did think of a beta, too, so IF THERE IS ANYONE WHO WOULD BE INTERESTED IN DOING BETA FOR THIS STORY THIS, E-MAIL ME. If not, you'll have to read it with those horrible grammar mistakes. :-)


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I keep forgeting this one, but you know I don´t own anything from HP world ... :-)

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Chapter 7 

It was very apprehensive and uncomfortable looking Sirius Black who stumbled out of the fireplace in the office of Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, who was currently sitting at his large dark oakwood desk, ruffling through the piles of parchments and searching for the last piece of Sunflower Biscuit lost somewhere in the midst of the mess. It must be said that the Headmaster was quite surprised.

"Headmaster Dumbledore, sir," said Sirius with a small bow, dusting himself off the soot and coughing a little.

"Mr Black! What a surprise! If I had known you'd be gracing us with visit, I'd have asked the House Elves for more of that delicious Lemon Drops. As it is, I ate them all."

Sirius looked up from his grooming himself, confusion written on his face. "I'm sorry, sir. Didn't you get my message?" He choose to ignore that bit about sweets.

"Message, Mr Black? I'm afraid not."

"Oh. Well, I personally Flooed here just this morning. You weren't there and I spelled a piece of parchment on your desk." He looked at said piece of furniture, but when he saw the disorderly sea of documents, the only thing he could muster was a small oh´.

Dumbledore sat on the other side and his blue eyes were twinkling with mirth. "I'm sure I will find it. Someday." He steepled his fingertips in front of his face. "The important thing is that you were able to get here through the castle outer wards unharmed." It wasn't posed as a question and it wasn't really one, but Sirius noticed the slight suspicion behind the ancient wizard's light tone.

"Oh. Well, I didn't want to impose on you because of such a pettiness. I had madam Glenn, the Head of School Board, to open the connection for me from the Ministry," he explained.

"Ah, so. How glad I am that you seem to be in her good graces."

There was a slight pause after that statement and Sirius began fidgeting.

"Well, I came to see my husband. I presume he is employed here?" Sirius said in the end.

"Yes, he is, indeed. But I fear you have just missed him. He left for Hogsmeade short while ago."

Sirius nodded, processing the information. He thought of returning to Highclere and coming back later, perhaps later in the evening, but knew that he would only put off the necessary thing.

"Would you mind terribly if I waited for him here at the school?" he asked Dumbledore.

"No, not at all, but I was just on my way to the staffroom. So if you would accompany me," was the answer.

"Of course, sir."

They left Headmaster's office together, rode down the moving stairs and the up and down the corridors, halls and staircases. Sirius marveled at how little had that place changed since he himself had been educated here. Still the same massive stony walls, old paintings of countryside as well as wizards, witches, and animals, ghosts floating around, mostly silent and serious. Hogwarts, it seemed, possessed uncanny ability to arouse sentimentality in him as well as some sort of odd calm. He had felt quite nervous back there in Dumbledore's office, but that feeling was now gone and he was glad.

"I take it that something serious has happened?" Dumbledore spoke up, effectively breaking his train of thought.

"S-sorry, sir? Happened? Why?" Sirius blinked, trying to recollect what had been just said, but it seemed the meaning behind the old wizard's words escaped him anyway.

"Well, I assumed something must have happened since your appearance here was rather abrupt," Dumbledore shrugged noncommittally.

Sirius started. "No, sir, nothing happened. I have just returned from my ... business trip and wished to visit Sn-Severus. That's all." He hoped that Dumbledore hadn't noticed his almost calling his husband of five years by his old surname. While away in the world, he had thought of Severus quite regularly. At least at the beginning. But the longer he had been away, the less he had thought of him and in the end he had even resumed calling him Snape in his head. That guilty feeling for leaving him had lessened as well in time and he had been finally free to do as he wished for once. But now that he thought about it, maybe he should have stopped for a while before he came here and thought it over, to put himself together and sort things out for himself. That he hadn't done and now he would pay for it.

"Isn't it curious that you call him Snape? After five years of marriage? Granted, I remember both of you from the time you both went here, as students, and I couldn't very well imagine you married to each other, but Severus tells me that even with you away from Britain you are in if not friendly then at least peaceful relationship and share lively correspondence."

_Does that one Christmas card I sent him two years ago count as lively correspondence?_

"Oh, that was a silly slip-up, sir. I occasionally call him that, you see, when we ... tease each other, so ..." he tried to explain, a little perplexed. He didn't understand why he suddenly needed to hide the fact that his marriage didn't develop the way everyone – except for him and Severus – thought it would. Not to mention the fact that Severus had apparently tried the same. The only thing he could comprehend was that that old dodger Dumbledore tried to manipulate him to ... to what exactly? Hell, next time, he swore mentally, next time he must be better prepared for such a situation.

They stopped in front of a dark wooden door. Dumbledore put a hand on the doorknob, but didn't enter. He looked steadily in Sirius' eyes and Sirius wasn't able to move his gaze away from the soul-searching piercing blue flame.

"It was very irresponsible of you to leave like that, Sirius," he said very quietly. "It certainly hadn't made his life easier and I belief neither it made yours. Life cannot be lived in pretense."

He opened the door, but turned in the door frame, not letting Sirius in.

"Severus shall be back in an hour or two. Young Mister Bridges, our resident Defense against Dark Arts teacher, felt that they both needed a few hours out of here in order to rest peacefully over the weekend and took it upon himself to assure that their time out would be as enjoyable as it can be. Severus' office is down in the dungeon, on the main corridor to the left, next to the painting of Elfride the Dragonrider. You will be let in, so don't worry about passwords. If you need anything later, I'll be most probably in my office again. Good day to you."

And the door was slammed firmly in his face, leaving him staring at it in mute confusion.

He then shrugged turned on his heel and directed his steps back to the grand staircase in leisurely pace.

He walked around the castle slowly, looking all around and admired the beauty of that place, spoke to a few of the people on the paintings and nodded in answer at the greetings of the students who passed him. A pair of girls eyed him with quite an interest, one of them even winked at him and both had giggled when they passed him. He visited the library and spent a while chatting with madam Pince, the Hogwarts librarian, who seemed to remember him from his schooldays.

By the time he decided to go down to the dungeon and find his husband's office, he was again rather ill at ease. To find the right room wasn't problem, for he had relatively precise recollection of that place from that time when Horace Slughorn had been resident Potion Master here. Elfride the Dragonrider regarded him suspiciously, but didn't say a word. The door was unlocked and he entered, looking around immediately. The office itself was dark and sparsely lit and the shelves full of animal bits in methanal certainly didn't help the welcoming atmosphere either. Large fireplace on the right was doing great impression of cavernous muzzle of some hellish beast. Altogether cushy place, wasn't it? He inwardly sniggered.

He rounded the desk in the center of room, intending perhaps to sit down on the high-backed professor's chair behind it and wait for his husband like that.

He never got to that though, because at that moment the door swung open and a tall dark-haired man stormed in. He didn't seem to notice Sirius yet and it gave him few precious seconds to study the other man. He hadn't changed much, Sirius decided. Black-haired, sallow-faced, rather thin. He turned away form Sirius in order to hang his cloak and it was when Sirius finally decided to make his presence known.

"Hello, Severus."

The other man turned with speed that could make a cobra proud. Black eyes stared at him, wide and surprised, and Sirius enjoyed that sight. And it was then that he noticed the blush on his high cheekbones. Whatever was the cause of such a dare he say adorable look on his husband's face? He couldn't help but smirk mockingly.

"Surprise, husband dear."

Severus stared at him without a single word for a moment. Finally he managed to croak out: "What are you doing here?"

He shrugged. "I came back in England yesterday."

"And you decided to grace me with you godlike presence. How delightful."

Severus seemed to gather himself rather quickly. Sirius was well prepared for his sarcasm though.

"Yes, that I did," he said, ignoring the jibe. "Now, won't you invite me for tea, husband dear?"

"No. And don't you dare calling me that ever again," he retorted sharply.

"Oh, come on, Severus. Can't we talk for a while?" Sirius tried to shun the exasperated tone out of his voice.

Severus glared at him incredulously. "What!" he growled dangerously.

"Good Lord, Snape, look here! I left. Okay. I was away for years. Yeah. But it's not as if I was the only one to blame for it, got it?" Gods, did he really thought he would make it without getting all worked up? And they weren't speaking for five minutes yet! "Look, I came here only to ask how you were, not seeking your undying love! I searched for you because I wanted apologize, to learn acting a little civilly towards you and above all at least try to respect you and in return make you respect me."

The silence that followed was tense.

Then Severus snorted. "Very impressive speech, _darling_. But my respect is much more valuable then that. I will hardly grant it to you just because you wish I would."

Sirius considered that logical. Really. He did. But that didn't mean that liked the way that man was saying it. No, he didn't care for the tone nor the arrogance at all. But he had to keep himself in check, lest he began throwing hexes.

"Look, Severus, let's try it, okay? I won't keep you long, but let's talk for a while, can we?" he plowed on.

Severus grimaced. "No." Then he arched his eyebrows and said in mocking politeness: "If you would excuse me, I'm too tired today, and I wanted to retire early." A smile that could send first year Hufflepuffs to their common room screaming for their mummy. "Good night."

Sirius stared at him, as he came to his desk, sat down and began shuffling the papers and scribbling something on the piece of parchment. Severus must have been aware of him still being there, but he didn't say a word about it. He ignored him completely for at least quarter of an hour, but Sirius made up his mind and refused to back down.

In the end he began fidgeting impatiently. "You are impossible, you know?" he groused.

He didn't expect an answer, but oddly enough, Severus raised his head from some sort of list. "No one has forced you to stay here." He looked down on the paper again. Finally he folded the paper, inserted it between the pages of a leather-covered book and stood up. He cleaned his workspace, set all the papers neatly on one pile, put the quills in the desk drawer and made his way to the door.

He turned to Sirius and gestured for him to get out of the office. "I need to lock it here."

Sirius played with the idea of refusing to be kicked out like that, but considering the fact that Severus would probably lock him there without further ado, he decided to comply.

"Does Headmaster know you're here?" Severus asked suddenly and Sirius looked up at him, surprised. Severus was now pocketing the slender coppery office key and avoided his gaze.

"Of course he does. I sent him a message just this morning to inform him that I was coming."

Severus frowned at him. "And he didn't deem it appropriate to tell me about it?"

Sirius shrugged. "It seems my note got lost in the flood of his morning post. He didn't get it."

They were walking further down into the castle dungeon now and finally stopped at one wall. There was nothing there except for an iron doorknocker in the shape of two entwined snakes protruding out of the stony mass. Severus took it and knocked three times against the wall and it parted before them.

Severus stepped to the entrance. "Don't think I will invite you in, Black," he glared at Sirius.

To his amazement, Sirius laughed. "That doesn't surprise me."

Severus stared at him hard. "You are still the same, five years or not. Still arrogant pigheaded sod who thinks that the world doesn't have nothing else but him to care for."

Sirius cocked his head to the side. "Coming from you it sounds like a compliment. Don't you ever hope for issuing a book of odes about flowers, sunshine and love?"

"The only thing I hope for is that you leave now and I will soon wake up from this nightmare about you ever returning here."

"We both should have prayed for waking from the nightmare more than five years ago, Severus. Neither you nor I can do anything about it now. Good night, husband dear. I will see you in the morning."

And he turned and left, the sound of stone sliding against stone telling him that Severus retreated into the sanctuary of his chambers.

His steps lead once again to the Headmaster's office. He walked swiftly, purposefully, not minding the students milling about. He nodded distractedly at one of the teachers, a rather handsome blond man, who was walking in opposite direction and regarding him suspiciously.

He planed on asking Dumbledore for a room for tonight. No, he wouldn't return to his house at Highclere that evening. He would spent night here and prepare battle plan.

His beloved husband represented a challenge of such a kind that Sirius just couldn't deny. No Black had ever given up without putting a good fight first. It should be indeed pleasurable to win the fortress that was Severus Black.

* * *

So here. 

I would like to thank you those of you who reviewed again. You inspire me, you are truly my Muses :-)


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I don't own HP and most likely never will ...

Gods, I have phobia of black lambs ... :-D

The offer for a beta reader still stands. If you think my story needs one and if you think you are the right person, don't hesitate and mail me :-) I have recently read through the chapters I have writen so far and I have certainly found a few things that I would have done differently. Well, what's done, is done :-)

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Chapter 8

Severus marched angrily away from the beach house, whose owner's concerned gaze followed him until he disappeared from her sight. He stopped behind the trees that lined the sand beach to shook sand out of his shoes. Some Muggle family kept looking at him strangely for some reason and he had to refrain himself from hexing them.

How could that blasted werewolf forget their appointment? Bloody ungrateful beast. Didn't he know how crucial it was for him to ingest the potion just in the right time before next full moon? One would think he had explained it clearly enough.

Apparently not.

Severus stepped off the road and behind the the bushes. He looked around for one last time, making sure that there were no young Muggle couples, making out in the high grass. That would be just his luck. However there wasn't anyone there, so he could easily apparate away, which he promptly did.

He landed on a small courtyard surrounded by high gray buildings. He glanced up to the square of the sky above uneasily, noting that it shared the same dirty color with the city fabrics around, and wrinkled his nose at a horrible smell that was brought to him by a slight wind from a nearby garbage container.

He crossed the small paved area and opened a small door in the corner formed by two of those ugly unaesthetic houses.

He found himself in a spacious foyer entirely furnished in red and black. Stark contrast to the colorless state of the outside London but not less hideous. Above the entrance into something that, by the terrifying sounds that came from it, resembled the Hell, was a sign declaring it to be Dancing Manticore.

He was sneering at the black-leather-clad guards throughout the whole procedure of checking his wand and managed to stop himself from hexing one of them, who expressed the surprise at Severus' not so happy mood at the entrance into their eden of pleasure´.

He descended the stairs and the first thing greeting him was such a wave of roaring music that his first instinct was to clap his hands over his ears. G_ods, and people subjected themselves_ willingly _to this? _The violet and blue lights were literally blinding, so he stayed rooted on the spot, waiting until the white and green flashes before his eyes subsided, lest he fell over the railing of the balcony he found himself on and ended up trampled by the writhing crowd bellow.

When he calmed enough to overcome the urge to flee that infernal place, he began to work his way through the masses of people lining the balcony. He was determined not to give up after all. At times he had been invited to places much like this, the only difference between them being that the Dancing Manticore was unlike places like Pamplemousse approved of and legal jungle of all kind of magical people. The entrance wasn't allowed to magical beings that were classified as creatures or animals, and, in most cases, Muggles, who were predisposed to serious health problems when encountering some of wizard's drugs like Brush or Necroin.

He brushed past a group of drunk most likely Spanish speaking men and got on the empty platform from which he could look all over the main dancing hall. It was huge. Confronted with the fact of endless ocean of human bodies he felt suddenly helpless, exhausted and angry. He leaned against the rail and bowed his head in defeat. So here it ends. That's why he hadn't got any sleep in last two weeks. To lose the flea-bitten lupine beast in a stupid dancing club. _Well, you lycanthropic piece of shit, rot in hell for all I care. And Merlin let the crap of my husband rot with you_.

"Professor!"

Severus turned swiftly and found himself face to face with a young man of eighteen, whom he remembered to be Alfred Hess, his former pupil and Slytherin to boot. He had graduated in Severus' first year at Hogwarts and had been one of the few that Severus was on somehow friendly terms with.

"Mr Hess." Severus had to rise his voice for it being heard by the other at all.

Horton smiled yelled back: "Came to have a bit of fun time, Professor?"

Severus scowled and shook his head no´ in response. Hess nodded and then motioned for Severus to follow him. Hess lead him further in, still on the balcony that, Severus now saw, was lining the whole hall circumferentially and had several levels. He was lead to a small island of tables on a platform. Once he stepped on the platform, the noise lessened considerably. A cleverly used Externus Sileo Charm. However he was forced to look up, when a Banshee-like noise was heard even in this oasis of relative calm. He suddenly found himself in the midst of small noisy crowd, half of which was for certain formed by his ex-students and the other half by young people whom he was sure he never saw anyone of. And it was suddenly all "professor this" and "professor that" and he was sure he heard Mr Fuchs saying "I have had nightmares about your lessons till month ago, bloody hell". He smirked. It was nice to know that you were remembered.

"Hey! Professor Black! Fancy meeting you here!"

"Mr Donovan." Severus inclined his head.

"Hey, Roger," young Donovan called out to one of the boys. "You wouldn't belief whom I met in the restroom. That poor old sod Lupin guy that had once promenaded at Hogwarts with that pretty French thing."

Severus turned to him sharply. "Lupin? Where?"

"Down there, that door behind the bar stand."

"Thank you," Severus said, not waiting for an answer, and deliberately ignoring the disappointed murmurs of inebriated youths, he once again dived into the noisy crowd.

How fortunate that half of the school remembered the sodding beast from the countless times he visited Severus at Hogwarts because of their little experiment. Even if their memory was evidently spurred mainly by the image of Lupin's stunning female companion, who he was still living with.

He ploughed through hordes and somehow managed to get to the bar without harm. He looked around searchingly and his eyes fell on familiar black-haired man at the table several steps away from him. Sirius looked up at the same moment and they stared at each other for few moments. Then Sirius stood up and gestured for Severus to come to him. Severus accepted the invitation and made the few necessary steps to Sirius' table.

They both sat down and Sirius smiled. "Do you know that only tenth of the people in here is actually British?" he said in a way of greeting.

"Is that so?"

"According to some asinine survey, yes. You are indeed very lucky to have found someone who speaks English at all. And the fact that you have found me of all people in a place that has got such a capacity should be considered a miracle. So, what do you need from me, husband dear?"

Severus immediately felt his anger boiling. That presumptuous bastard lived with the thought of everyone doing things just because of him, didn't he? He looked over Sirius' shoulder and saw Remus Lupin nearing them. He sneered.

"What gave you the idea that I've been searching for you?" he uttered coldly and without looking at him he stood up.

Sirius' smug reply was cut short when he headed towards Lupin, whom he sized by his shirt and dragged back to the lavatory the other man had just emerged from.

"Oh, Severus! What a surprise!" babbled Lupin as he was unceremoniously flung into the wash room.

The werewolf put on a confused expression, as he saw Severus scanning the room for any unwanted listeners, and looked downright tense and suspicious when Severus locked the door with with Securus Charm.

"Severus ..." he growled warily, but his eyes grew wide with realization, as Severus pulled out of his pocket a small bundle of fabric, pointed at it with his wand and the pack got shape of a cup.

"Oh, bloody hell, Severus, how could I forget? Gods, it's just slipped out of my mind. You know, I was used to you bringing it to me in the middle of the circle and I didn't realize –"

Severus glare was murderous. "Didn't you read my letter clearly stating that the delivery would change because of the modification I have done?"

"I did. I'm really sorry for all the inconvenience. Wouldn't it have been easier if you had let it at my place with Sophia?"

Severus sniffed. "No, because I have to be there when you drink it to watch out for any problems."

"Oh, of course. Again, I apologize. I know you don't want to hear but it means m-"

"Just drink it, will you?"

Lupin grabbed the bronze cup and downed the foul-smelling liquid. He shuddered and made face at the taste and Severus scowled. Lupin looked ready to vomit.

"Alright?" he asked the werewolf sharply.

Lupin leaned against the sink and nodded. He didn't look alright but who was Severus to argue?

"I would advise you to leave this place. The cigarette smoke could have negative effect on your current condition as could the alcohol smell everything else," Severus instructed him while packing his tools.

Lupin nodded, splashing some water in his face.

"Will you need me to assist you out? Do you feel like apparating?"

"I can manage," Lupin croaked. "The disapparate room is just next door." And he began shuffling towards the door.

Severus unlocked it and helped Lupin out. In the hall stood several men waiting to be let in and all gave them weird looks. Severus refused to think about what they thought they had been doing there. Lupin let go of him at the sight of Sirius standing there with arms crossed over his chest and looking peculiarly from one to another. Severus growled at him as they were passing him.

Lupin and Sirius said goodbye to each other with Lupin explaining he didn't feel very well "because of my condition, you know, Padfoot," and promising to keep in touch frequently, and then the werewolf was gone.

"Care to explain?" asked Sirius, as the door of apparate room closed behind Lupin.

"Not particularly," Severus responded lazily.

Sirius made face at this and Severus was sure he had some pretty insulting answer in his head, but Sirius seemed to swallow it and said instead: "I suppose you don't want to be here much longer?"

"That's right. I'll take my leave."

"Wait for me, will you? There are some old friends of mine I would like to say goodbye to. Come with me?"

"No. And I think it's not necessary for me to wait. I'm going back to Hogwarts."

"Well, where do you think I'm going?"

Severus scowled at this and looked at Sirius questioningly.

"I had the Headmaster to prepare rooms for me in the castle."

Severus scowl grew even darker. He didn't want Sirius at school.

Seeing this, Sirius chuckled. "Gods, you can act immature sometimes."

Severus huffed and turned away from him, seating himself on one of the bar stools and arched an eyebrow at Sirius. "Go to say goodbye to your friends already, will you?"

"You really don't want to go with me? I'm sure you know at least some of them as well."

Severus shook his head and Sirius left, shrugging. Severus soon got lost track of him in the crowd. And so he waited. He waved away the barmaid, opting rather for sitting there and watching the other people.

"Excuse me."

He looked up. The intruder stood uncomfortably close behind Severus and the Potion Master tried to pull away a little.

"You seem to be alone here. May I sit with you?" By the accent certainly not British. Severus couldn't very well see his face in the flickering light, but he could easily discern that the stranger was older then him, certainly seemed to be physically stronger and had eyes as dark as himself.

"No." He wasn't renowned for his politeness after all, and that man made him uncomfortable.

The man seemed surprised but undettered.

"Okay, then. May I buy you drink?"

"No."

"And would you like to – "

"_No_."

A pause. Severus, relieved, was ready to release the breath he was holding, when –

"Maybe I should tell you bluntly then," said the man and Severus raised an eyebrow. "I want to have sex – "

"Which part of no´ didn't you understand?" growled Severus threateningly.

The strange man stared at him incredulously. Then chuckled lowly. "I like you. A lot. Granted, you aren't the most beautiful piece of art on the earth, but you certainly are attractive." He winked at him. "And look, baby, what I have in here." He set his hand on the counter, and there, on his palm, sat a little blue pill. "We could spend a lovely night together, what do you think."

Severus stared at pellet contemptuously for a moment and then looked up into the other man's face. "I think I have half mind to take this piece of powdered and colored Pixie bladder and let it dissolve in that glass of that Salamander piss with bubbles over there. And the second half of my mind is thinking of grabbing that thick head of yours by hair and hitting it against the counter. Preferably more than once." After this, he deliberately turned his head away and prayed to all the saints, so that the man would leave him alone.

The hand on his shoulder told him that his prayers were, as usual, futile.

"What's the matter?"

Severus turned and maybe for the first time in his life he was glad to see his husband, who stood there, behind the man, assessing the situation. "Would you mind removing your hand from my husband's shoulder? I can help you, if you want," he growled.

The hand disappeared and Severus got hold of himself for long enough to roll his eyes at Sirius. "I had it perfectly under control," he said, not paying attention to the other man anymore, but concentrating his death glare at Sirius. The oaf of his husband didn't need to see how relieved he was.

Not that he couldn't defend himself. He could. He was really fast when he needed to be. He just was better at the wizard's duels than wrestling, due to his physical build.

"If you say so," Sirius answered, smirking slightly. "Let's go then."

They apparated from the behind the bar room.

Their journey from the gates to the the castle was a silent affair. Severus was tired and Sirius ... well, Sirius could go to hell for all he cared.

But in the Entrance Hall they met Aventine.

"Good evening, Severus," the blond said pleasantly. "I have just looked for you." He then turned to Sirius, who smiled at him slightly. "Ah, good evening, sir. I believe we don't know each other. I presume you are here because of your children?"

Sirius smirked. "Well, that, too. Possibly." He extended his hand, which Aventine took. "My name is Sirius Black."

The look Aventine gave him and the speed, with which he let go of his hand, spoke enough for Sirius to comprehend the situation. That Severus saw clearly enough. And when Sirius turned to him, smiled at him gently, kissed him on the cheek and said good night in voice that could surely melt icebergs, he saw clearly another thing as well: he was really in deep shit.

* * *

Thank you all again. You really plant ideas into my head. You are my sources of inspiration. :-)

S.


	9. Chapter 9

Ufffffff ... I'm sorry, I'm a bit late /apologetic smile/

Disclaimer: Still not mine :-(

Note: As usual, feel free to criticize :-)

And also, I´ve got BETA! Please, everyone, greet **Sesshomarusbabygirl**! She helped me a lot. Special Thanx :-) All further mistakes are mine.

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Chapter 9 

Sirius sat at Three Broomsticks, nursing his drink and chatting with Rosmerta. It was Monday afternoon and the patrons began pouring into the pub, but Rosmerta always found a moment to return to Sirius at the bar and interrogate him about his stay in the U.S.

"And is it true that the American wizards eat bison's ... you know what to stay sexually active till age of one hundred and twenty?"

"Well, no one has ever offered it to me, so I can't say, but some people kept asking me if is it true that the British witches, when getting ready for bed, strip off all their clothes and rub oil of Unicorn milk on their skin, for the eternal beauty."

"What did you tell them?"

"That the only woman I've ever seen naked was my mother, and _that_ really wasn't the most beautiful sight to behold."

Rosmerta threw her head back, exposing her white throat, and laughed, loudly and heartily. Some wizards at the other end of the bar called for her and she left, still chuckling.

He smiled as well. So far everything had gone well that day. He had gone to the Ministry and arranged meeting with Yorik Clawrap from The Improper Use of Magic Office, to get his Animagus registration done. Apparently James had had much more problems with it than he had, most probably due to the fact that his friend was an Auror. He himself had managed to distract him with the talk about his stay abroad, while making up a story about learning it outside of the country by accident.

He was still smiling as he downed the contents of his glass. The liquid burned in his throat pleasantly and he planned on ordering another one, but as he turned his head to Rosmerta, who was standing behind the bar again, his eyes caught a sight of certain someone outside the tavern through the window.

Sirius stood up immediately, grabbing his jacket and throwing some silver Sickles on the table at the same time. He waved at Rosmerta, who pouted charmingly when she saw him leaving so hurriedly, brushed past a tall witch, who was wearing a pink boa and the most atrocious perfume he had ever smelt, and stepped out of the pub.

Aventine Bridges was walking down the street a few meters ahead of him, dark cloak billowing behind him in the wind. Sirius shivered as the wind gust hit against his face unpleasantly and pulled the scruff of his jacket up, so that it partially covered his face.

The blond walked on, for the next few moments unaware of the increasing resentment that was growing inside of his silent stalker.

"Mr Bridges!"

The Hogwarts DADA teacher spun around quickly and came nose to nose with Sirius,

"Ah, Mr Black," Aventine said slowly, raising an eyebrow. He was decided to stand his ground against his rival. "To what do I owe the pleasure of your presence in such a fine afternoon?"

"To all the saints. Or to all the devils. Your pick, _professor_," Sirius growled, piqued by the other man's obvious unwillingness to back down of even the smallest bit.

"Is there actually anything you want, or is your existence based solely on making the life of other people hell?"

"As matter of fact, there is indeed something I want of you. I believe you know what I mean."

Bridges bowed his head slightly, but his eyes hadn't left Sirius' face. He nodded. "Okay, let's not play dumb. Yes, I have a general idea what an arrogant spoiled piece of scum like you would want. And let me tell you this, Mr Black, you have no right to demand anything either from Severus or me. So do us all a favor, take off and disappear back to whatever hole you have been hiding in all those years, will you?"

The blond sod turned away and Sirius saw red. With a vicious snarl, he reached out, caught the blond's cloak and tugged him back, noting with a slight satisfaction that Bridges stumbled.

"Now, little boy," he hissed, when he had his rival pulled back against him so that they breathed in each other's faces. "How about this: If you won't let him alone, neither God above nor Albus Dumbledore will help you, when I'm finished with you. Is that clear? Leave my husband alone!" The last bit was almost shouted as Sirius released Bridges, went past him and set out on walking briskly to the castle in the distance.

He managed to calm himself completely before he arrived to Hogwarts' gates and in the Entrance Hall he took the corridor leading straight to the dungeon, without any further thoughts on the inconvenience named Aventine Bridges.

The sight that greeted him, however, when he came in Severus' dungeon laboratory, just next door to the Potions classroom, was his husband obviously in a foul mood, scrubbing a small silver cauldron. The moment he set his eyes on him, he threw the cauldron away, so that some of the thick greenish substance flew around.

"What the hell did you two imbeciles do in Hogsmeade?" he barked.

Sirius raised eyebrows at this. What? he wanted to ask, but didn't get the chance.

"Quarter an hour ago Minerva McGonagall comes in here and what does she tell me? What? What the fuck do you think? That the idiot of my colleague and the cretin of my husband are fighting in the main street of the village like some vagabonds over ... over ME!"

_Well, news certainly travel quickly here_, thought Sirius vaguely. Severus looked absolutely murderous, eyes glittering madly, cheeks flushed, teeth clenched, and Sirius suddenly didn't long for anything more than to annoy him even more.

He went past his husband, who seemed to be rooted on the spot by the sheer force of his rage and hopped up on the work bench, careful as not to sit into some splash of whatever acid Severus had been working on, and began examine the contents of upturned cauldron. "You know, you're really something special."

Severus' eyes grew wide at this.

"Really, you are," Sirius said, a serious expression in his face, even though he didn't look up. "Only you could take such an act of obvious interest as an insult or whatever you are having it for. Other people would be flattered." And he continued on without an obvious pause: "Hmm, what's this? Billywig stings? Lobalug juice. Aconite. These blue flowers – violets?" Sirius looked up. Severus was still standing there, but now he was positively fuming. Sirius grinned cheekily at him, and slid his hand through a pile of soft golden hairs laying nearby, scattering it around a little. "You know, I have read, not long ago actually, about a Potion for werewolves. It's really funny, considering that the article mentioned that the Potion is made of things like Billywig stings and Aconite and ... yes, they are over there, aren't they, the Kneazle tongues ..." Sirius halted in his listing and blinked slowly, as if realizing ... He turned his head slowly to Severus.

They stared at each other, both speechless.

"Well, there you have a proof that I wasn't complete moron in Potions at school, isn't it?" Sirius said weakly after a full minute of stunned silence. "And Remus -"

It seemed that it took only the name of Sirius' friend to get Severus out of his stupor. The moment Sirius said it, Severus launched himself at him and bodily dragged Sirius off the table and out of his lab.

"Not a word! You won't breathe a single word about this to anyone, do you hear me?" Severus hissed into Sirius' face.

"Sev-" and "What" were the only things Sirius managed to say. Severus was long gone, but Sirius had the image of the swish of his husband's robe imprinted in his peripheral vision for another minute.

He moved away from the wall he had been leaning on and began running after Severus. He arrived just in time to see the stone wall sliding back together, with only the doorknocker indicating that there were Potion Master's chambers hidden.

He stopped in front of it, raised his chin at it and commanded: "Let me in. My husband is in there."

Two snake heads raised and stared at him for a while, flicking their tongues, before they folded themselves against each other again, apparently without any further interest.

Sirius was more than a bit miffed. It was a common thing in the Wizarding World for entrances of almost all sorts in to let the spouse inside the domain they were guarding, when the person's other half was inhabiting it for longer period of time. Sirius didn't think that Severus had managed to lock the door against him, for license for such a thing would have to be acquired at the Ministry of Magic, and he doubted that Dumbledore would let his Potion Master change anything about the castle's magic with the help of Ministry officers.

But what a wonderful thing would that be if he could speak Parseltongue. That would surely make it easier for him to deal with those loathsome creatures.

_Well, doesn't matter_, he thought and tried again. "Let me inside, I say."

The snakes wavered but nothing more. Ten or more minutes passed in a stream of really colorful curses.

Suddenly a low chuckle sounded through the corridor and Sirius turned his head to the paint of the Elfride the Dragonrider, a stout woman clad in armor and holding a heavy sword. She must have just returned into her painting from her trip around the castle's other portraits, for he hadn't seen her there before.

"It's clear you haven't had much experience with animals, have you?" she asked in a booming voice.

Sirius tilted his head. "I'm afraid you were right, madam," he said, ignoring the childish need to brag to the woman that he had more than enough experience animals, being animagus himself and all that, but instead he just put on a shy smile of a lost child. "Perhaps you could help me a bit?"

Elfride had obviously wanted to tease him a bit and let him work for her favor, but Sirius must have hit the weak spot in her hardened heart with that smile. Her portrait was situated in a school, after all. How many helpless children must she have seen already? One more lost soul, an adult or not, had surely right on her rare kindness. She smiled at him in return and then said, loudly and clearly: "Let the Potion Master's _mate_ in."

And really, the wall parted before him in a moment. Sirius shook his head in wonder. Well, of course an animal, even a man-made doorknocker in a magical castle, wouldn't comprehend the too human terms like _husband_ or _wife_.

Sirius thanked Elfride and slipped in the gap between the stones.

The moment he stepped inside, he began looking around. The sitting room he was standing in was too small for his taste, but that could be because most of the space was occupied by books. Really, there were books everywhere. Neatly stacked on the desk, on the chairs, on the floor. You could replace all the columns in the Hogwarts Entrance Hall with those books and you wouldn't know the difference. Hell, Hagrid, the half-giant Hogwarts groundkeeper, could have hidden himself easily behind the pile over there.

But he didn't get even a small glimpse of Severus.

After a moment of hesitation, he did a few necessary steps towards the door on the right. The room behind it was most likely a bedroom and he didn't feel comfortable with going in there and disturbing Severus' privacy in such a way, husband or not. But he had to know about the Wolfsbane Potion Severus had been brewing for Remus and about the curious reaction the Potion Master had showed earlier.

He knocked on the door and waited. Nothing happened, so he called: "Severus?" It seemed that there was no move inside either and Sirius distantly wondered if it was enough time for Severus to either drown in the bathtub or bleed to death if he had sliced his wrists. Well, he certainly didn't love him, but he still hoped he was alright. Armed with this argument if his husband was in a state to draw his wand at him, he took the doorknob and opened the door.

The sight that greeted him was by no means as scary as he had thought. The room seemed much more spacious, although Sirius suspected that if it wouldn't be for the flood of books, they would be of the same size. This one was lit only by a single flame of the candle standing on the bedside table beside a large fourposter bed on which lay Severus, uncovered, on his stomach, still in his teaching robes and breathing softly, eyes closed.

Sirius watched him, stunned. Such a rare display of vulnerability on the face of this particular man rendered him speechless as well as unable to turn his head away from the view. Severus looked almost attractive when he wasn't ranting and shouting and pacing infernally like he usually did in Sirius' presence.

But only almost.

Sirius stepped to the bed and crouched down, so his face hovered above the one's of the the sleeping man.

"Severus," he whispered and shook him a little. Nothing. Damn, the man would be able to sleep through a war.

"Severus!" he tried again, louder, and shuffled his feet impatiently.

A soft crack´ under his boots forced him to look on the floor. It seemed that he stepped on some sort of vial. He breathed out a sigh of relief when he smelt a piece of shattered glass and instead of some unknown poison his senses identified a standard chamomile sleeping potion.

Well, it looked like he would have to wait till morning with the interrogation. He sighed and turned to leave. He hated not knowing things immediately, but there wasn't anything he could do about it now.

But when he came back into the sitting room, he was faced with another problem. With a sense of embarrassment he realized that while he had practically no trouble with getting in, he could have much more problems with getting out of Severus' quarters. The embarrassment grew into slight panic, when he called out for the snake guardians to let him out and nothing happened. And it was only a small step to utter desperateness, when he tried to recall those few pieces of information he had about snakes, and the only thing he could think of was that they were profoundly deaf.

* * *

As usual, thank you. I'm sorry I didn't post it sooner. I had the plot, but I didn't have time to type it. Let's blame school :-) 

Drahá **Léno** – heh, you have no idea how shocked I was when I looked in my mail box and saw a review in Czech! It really surprised me, but I was pleased with your praise at the same time. Thank you, even though I don't think it's that great. In answer to your question, no, I'm not posting anything on any of the Czech fan fiction sites at the moment. The reason is simple: this is the first story (or anything else) I have ever written and I have purposefully chosen the biggest story-archive possible as well as language not my own for the simple reason of feeling more anonymous. And I don't think I could write anything (not to mention slash story) in Czech. But one can always try, so maybe later. Never say never, that's my motto.

**lee**– I'm very sorry, I didn't want to cause any confusing and unclear ends, so I'm setting it straight for you, so there wouldn't be any doubts about it: in the previous chapter Aventine kissed Sirius ... NO! Of course that's not true :-D Sirius kissed Severus. On the cheek. There. That's right. Really. I hope it's all cleared up now and I will try not to write such confusing paragraphs. The only excuse I can give you is that I was in a hurry and didn't have time to reread it before I posted it.


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: Nothing new there, still not mine :-)

Oh, hello, people! I'm really sorry for the long delay, but life has been busy lately with my final exam approaching and so on. The only thing I can say so that you wouldn't kill me is that I certainly plan on finishing this story up, no matter what. So there. Please don't kill me :-) Oooooh! But I've got over one hundred reviews!

Big THANX to my beta **Sesshomaru'sbabygirl**. Baby, I love your e-mails, they make my day :-D

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Chapter 10

Severus woke up in a complete darkness, as per se usual. He laid there for several minutes with his eyes open even though he didn't see a single thing. He silently contemplated yesterday's events, and the situation he had gotten himself in. The bloody nosy git had to return just in time to spoil all his hard work.

He decided he had been lying long enough and shifted under the covers, moving his still sleep-relaxed body towards the edge. But the moment he forced himself to pull his legs out of the warm cocoon of the covers, something reached around him pulled him back to the bed.

"Where d' you think you're goin'?" a sleep-laden voice rasped.

Severus ... certainly didn't squeak. No. But he did a good job of struggling against the arm that held him around his chest. Which resulted in said arm holding him even tighter.

"Stop fighting me, damn it. I'm not going to rape you," Sirius growled, clearly irritated. By what, Severus couldn't tell.

"Whatimeizit?" Sirius asked, now apparently in the middle of a huge yawn.

"Half past five."

"Nnnn, AM?"

"No, CD, you imbecile. What are you doing here?" Severus managed to calm himself down from his near panic attack. Circe, one of these days, Sirius was going to be death of his.

"Trying to sleep, obviously." Sirius' voice now sounded muffled, as if his owner buried his face in the pillow.

"What are you doing in my chambers?"

"Those snakes didn't want to let me out."

Severus stared ahead of himself into the darkness, gritting his teeth. The arm around his chest didn't loosen its grip; on the contrary, the maggot had the nerve to pull him even closer to himself.

"What about the couch in the sitting room?" he asked with that sort of calm others – those more intelligent – would recognize as the first stage of his anger.

"I lost the battle against your book."

Severus blinked in confusion, his anger forgotten for a moment. "Book? What book?"

"That one which tried to bite my hand off. It didn't want to let me even near the couch."

For a while there was silence in which Severus contemplated several ways how to murder his husband without being caught. Many of them included said biting book.

He heard a sigh behind him and almost jumped out of his skin when he felt a hot breath on his ear.

"Do you always get up this early? And stop gritting your teeth. It's unbecoming."

Severus struggled again, but Sirius lay half atop of him, so it was rather futile. "Could you kindly release – "

"No, husband dear, I could not. I have a few questions for you. But you would flee immediately, given the chance, and then avoid me till I had to turn to some drastic measures. This will be much more simple."

Severus glared into the blackness behind him, in the likely direction of Sirius face.

"So, the questions were ...?" he prompted with a snarl.

The weight on his right side disappeared, but the arm around him stayed on its place, ready to hold him down, if he tried to move in any suspicious way. He wondered angrily where he left his wand. Well, no matter. He would use raw magic later. Revenge was, after all, best dish served cold.

"That can wait," Sirius said, pulling Severus so that he was laying with his back to his husband-nemesis.

Severus attempted another maneuver to get free and Sirius behind him gave an exasperated growl. "Gods, can't you sleep for two more hours?"

"I have to prepare my lessons, if you don't mind."

"I do mind. And I don't believe you would spent what ... three hours preparing for class. You don't enjoy it that much."

"Black ..." Another threatening growl.

"Shut up, Severus, and sleep. Or must I hex you to be still and quiet?"

Ten minutes passed in silence. Well, Severus knew when he was bested. So he would stay here like a good boy now and wouldn't try anything to annoy his husband. Sirius' breathing slowed down and the grip on his prisoner gradually relaxed. Severus tried to move from under the heavy arm. Sirius clicked his tongue and Severus would swear that he heard him chuckle. Bastard.

It took another quarter of an hour for Sirius to fall asleep. Severus tried to get away from him again. This time there was no reaction from the git that occupied more than half of his bed. He slipped out quietly. Now, where did he leave his wand? Oh, in the bathroom.

"YEOOW!"

One moment he felt as if he had stepped on a scorpion, then he found himself propelled backwards on the bed and blinded by the white light of Sirius' wand.

"Did you have to set traps, too?" he wailed. Hell, it stung! "Do something, you moron!"

"Well, if you could just stop yelling, I could find out what the hell happened!" Sirius roared back.

Severus blinked. "My foot," he hissed, much quieter.

Sirius lit up the candles on the bedside table with a spell and deftly pulled the other man so he was laying fully on the bed again.

"You stepped on glass," was Sirius' diagnosis.

"Oh no, really?" Severus' sarcasm didn't seem to affect Sirius in any way. He just smiled at him and moved to examine his foot.

"Hold still. I'll clean the wound up."

Severus tensed. Sirius looked up, saw his distrustful expression and rolled his eyes. "I have some experiences with healing, you know?"

And Severus didn't even have time to protest. A gentle flick of Sirius' wand and the glass vanished. Another flick and mumbled incantation and the foot was suddenly neatly bandaged. He would have to see madam Pomfrey later, though.

"All right?" Sirius asked, touching the now unbroken skin around the bandage. He had the nerve to smirk at Severus, when he jerked away from the tickling sensation.

"Yes," he answered. No need to thank that smug git. It had been surely his fault anyway. Regardless of the fact that the glass must have been the remnants of Severus' own vial of Sleeping Potion.

"Fine," Sirius nodded. "And since you don't seem to be particularly keen on sleeping, let's talk a little, shall we?"

Severus felt immediately annoyed at his imperious tone. Who did he think he was, ordering him about in his own chambers?

Sirius seated himself comfortably at the foot of the bed, tugging the sheets around himself and daring to look completely at ease. "So, husband dear, will you tell me what's going on between you and Mr Bridges?" he smirked, looking expectantly at Severus.

Severus pulled himself up against the headboard, preparing himself. One. He threw a quick glance a the carpet, looking for the remnants of glass. He found none. Good. Two. He cast surreptitious glance Sirius' way and scowled at him. Three. "When pigs fly, you jerk."

And he bolted out of the bed and out of the room.

He heard a yelp and a thud from the bedroom and smirked. The blockhead must have gotten himself tangled in the sheets. Impractical idiot. Stumbleblock's Guide or Advices to the Three Other Hogwart's Houses, rule one hundred seventy-three: Never wrap yourself in any sort of fabric if you are just dealing with a Slytherin.

He headed to the wall serving as the entrance, balled his hand in a fist, and hit the smooth stone plane. Snakes may not be able react to sounds but they most certainly acknowledge vibrations of almost any kind. The wall slid aside, revealing the corridor behind it.

Sirius' head appeared in the doorway, but the sheets around his ankles still seemed to slow down his progress. He finally succeeded in kicking the traitorous cloth aside. "Running away again, Sevvie?" he growled.

Severus sneered, ignoring the nickname. "I'm not going anywhere. You, on the other hand, are. I order you to get out of my rooms as well as out of this blasted building and the grounds belonging to it and never ever return. Now."

Sirius straightened and stalked towards him. Before Severus could utter another word, his husband had him backed against wall. Sirius was standing so close that Severus was forced to put his hands on his husband's chest to keep some distance between himself and the taller man.

"Well, husband dear," Sirius purred, suddenly somewhat angry. "You have no say in either of these things, as we both very well know."

Severus opened his mouth to protest, a shade paler than usual, but he never got the chance.

"Shut up, before I kiss you, and listen," Sirius growled. Never before had Severus been put to silence so effectively. Sirius smiled. "It's too early in the morning for this. And since you seem so against the idea of me being in your quarters, you will come to me. In the evening, after dinner in the Great Hall."

Severus barred his teeth, but Sirius put his index finger on his lips before the harsh words had gotten out. Severus was quite tempted to bite the offending finger off.

But Sirius smirked. "Oh, you will come, husband dear."

Severus jerked his head away. "If you think that the Headmaster would allow you to boss me around just because your position in this marriage ensures –"

"No." Sirius cut Severus off sharply, and it seemed to make him even angrier. "No, I would hate if you decided to come just because the nature of our bond forced you to. I told you I have no intention to ever use it like that. No. But you see, I just feel sooo grateful about the potion you obviously brew for Remus, but since I know that you despise my compliments, I have to express my gratitude elsewhere. I can just imagine our merry Headmaster's face, when I tell him how eternally grateful I'm to him that he lets you prepare that surely highly complicated and dangerous potion in the school full of his precious little –"

"What time."

"Eh, sorry?"

"What. Time. Shall. I. Come. To. Your. Rooms. Tonight?"

Severus hated the smug look that settled on Sirius' handsome face.

"Just like I said. After dinner will be fine." Sirius smiled joyously and stepped back, finally allowing Severus a bit of space. "Well, now go prepare for your lessons, husband dear," he gave his permission graciously.

And then he walked out of the door, completely ignoring Severus, who was again gritting his teeth in annoyance.

≈ Ω ≈

"So you're going back to him, then?"

"I don't have much of choice, Aventine. He is my husband, after all," Severus answered resignedly.

His colleague was clearly upset with the new development. "Wait, wait, why the hell not? He left you. You have every right to tell him to get lost and never return."

They were in the DADA classroom, cleaning mess after one of the practical lessons. Aventine had felt very satisfied with his classes that afternoon, so he hadn't even assigned a detention to some poor student to tidy the desolated room up and had opted for doing it himslef instead. However, his contentment had been short-lived. An hour before dinner, Severus had come in, returning the books he had borrowed, and ended up retelling his modified version of how the events had happened with his irritable husband. Severus had of course omitted some _unimportant_ parts.

"Is he blackmailing you or something?" Aventine asked.

"Blackmailing," Severus scoffed, not looking at the other man. "As if he was able of such a complex thing." But inwardly he couldn't help but give half a point to Gryffindor for the very Slytherin tactic his husband had used that morning. But he certainly wasn't going to tell Aventine that. "No, he's not blackmailing me. He wouldn't even have to," he only said.

Aventine pushed himself away from the desk he had been leaning against and made the few necessary steps until he reached Severus. "Just what the hell did he do, Severus?"

Severus sighed. "He did nothing. Our parents did." He paused, still not looking at the blond. Gentle fingers on his face forced him to look into that concerned face and those misty green eyes. He shrugged, but the gesture could be in no way interpreted as a casual one. It spoke rather of inner distress of Hogwarts' resident Potion teacher. "The Blacks had money, my mother didn't. They thought that if they buy a slave for their eldest unmanageable son they appease him enough to be able to control him. The only things I can be happy about in this situation is that their plan to tame Sirius had failed completely and that he apparently refuses to use me that way."

"Slave, Severus?" Aventine hissed.

Severus fidgeted. "Well, I admit, not exactly slave, but it could very well be that case."

There was flash in Aventine's eyes that Severus found very becoming. "Severus, if he hurts you in any way ..."

Severus made an attempt to step away, but hands on his shoulders stopped him. "Sirius doesn't use the bond like that, I say. If he had, I would have been dead at least fifty-times by now for all those rows and sneers and insults."

Aventine, it seemed, was really shocked by the turn of the events. "I can't believe Ministry allows such bonds to take place at all!"

"Well, I tell you: If you have money and pure blood, you have everything."

"And you're still going to him."

"And what pray tell should I do?" Severus almost shouted now.

They stared at each other for a moment. And before he knew how it happened, Aventine was kissing him and he was kissing Aventine. And it was desperate and wrong and wonderful and it was quickly over.

After that, they both held onto each other for dear life. Severus had his face burrowed in Aventine's neck and he felt hot breath of the other man just below his ear. _Well, isn't this just story of my life_, Severus mused. _The exact moment I gather the courage to finally claim something I want, something or someone else just has to go and ruin it for me._

"You smell so good," the blond man whispered hotly in Severus' ear.

They both stayed like that for a moment.

"I have to go," Severus said in the end. He extracted himself from Aventine's arms and walked out of the classroom without looking back.

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As usual, feel free to criticize :-D 

S.


	11. Chapter 11

Eh, hello. Yes, I'm alive. Barely, but alive :-D I know it has been long time. I'm not offeering any excuses, you don't want to hear/read them anyway.

I'm afraid the next chapter won't come until end of March or so, though. I'm sorry. But I WILL finish this. Damn ...

This chapter is un-betaed. All mistakes are mine. The characters and everything that belongs to them aren't, though. They belong J.K.Rowling

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Chapter 11

It was a very unimpressed Severus Black that stood behind the door to Sirius's chambers that evening. Sirius didn't pay much attention to his husband's expression; after all that man scowled always and at everything.

When ushered on a couch, Severus sat without fuss. When offered a glass with golden liquid in it, he sneered and sniffed at it as if he was expecting poison instead of Sirius' finest brandy.

Sirius himself didn't sit down, but he was sipping the beverage serenely and observing the man across him. There were questions he wanted answered, but first things first:

"So, is it serious between you and Mr. Bridges?"

Severus looked up from his tumbler. "I really don't think that's any of your business."

"On the contrary, husband dear, I have every right to know."

Severus was glaring at him defiantly.

That infuriated Sirius to no end.

"Look," he said, exasperated. "Just tell me that you are together and love each other madly and I'll let you go and won't bother you ever again." Wait. He hadn't just said that! Gods, that was like stroking the dog wrong way, so to speak.

If possible, Severus' expression became even sourer. "Couldn't you tell me sooner?" he muttered, more to himself than to his estranged spouse, but Sirius' acute senses caught it all the same. What the hell did that mean?

Severus apparently decided that the drink won't bite him and downed the brandy in one gulp. Sirius gestured towards a bottle on a small table silently, but Severus shook his head. "Just tell me, why I'm here, ask what you want to ask, and let me go. I've other things to do than sit around and chit-chat."

"Brewing Wolfsbane, for example?"

Severus let his look meet the one of his counterpart. Sirius was standing between him and the door, leaning negligently against the side of an armchair, but his eyes were no longer laughing mischievously like they usually did. This man in front of Severus wanted his answers.

Severus stood up and walked to the window, the empty glass still in hand. With the other hand he pulled away the curtain. The darkness had already engulfed everything. Severus was standing half turned away from him. He was frowning, trying to focus his eyes to see outside, beyond the reflection of his own face.

"Why is it that you think that the Headmaster wouldn't allow you to brew whatever potion you set your mind on? Isn't it a part of the teacher's contract that he or she has the possibility to broaden the theoretical as well as the practical knowledge of his chosen subject without limitations in his or hers free time?"

Severus nodded, but almost in imperceptibly. "That is so," he said quietly.

Sirius' eyes never left his husband's form.

"Then why does the resident Potions Master of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry fear that he doesn't have the same rights?"

Severus wouldn't look at him. "Well, yes. The Potions Master."

Sirius frowned in confusion. "Damn it start speaking in whole sentences instead of those riddles of yours! I checked your contract. It's perfectly valid and there are no paragraphs stating that your status here is anything less than that of a lecturer with all the rights emerging from your title."

Like a flash of lightning, Severus turned around to face his husband, Sirius' most favorite expression – the Thundercloud – set firmly in his stern face. "You – YOU went through MY documentation?"

"Answer my question, Severus," Sirius said, ignoring completely Severus' own question.

Severus drew back a little, as if slapped. He pursed his lips for a moment, but then he raised his chin and this time looked directly in Sirius' eyes.

"What I meant to say that the problem lies in the title of Potions Master. I may teach Potions at this school but since I don't have the aforementioned title there are certain things I should not get a hold of – for example some ingredients necessary for certain potions."

It took a few moments for Sirius to realize what his husband was saying.

"Oh. Aha. I see … so you didn't –"

Severus didn't say anything.

"So, how did it happen? Or rather how did it not happen? Didn't you go to Italy?"

"I did."

"Well, what happened?"

"Merlin, what sort of imbecile you are? I went to Rome. I did participate in the whole crazy process of running from one door to another in that maze of the so called University and trying to get a piece of some useful information from some old stupid wizards who cannot speak English or even Italian without using that damn Latin at least half the time. I don't have the damn title. What's the missing line? Maybe that I didn't pass the exam? Hmm?" If one wanted to describe Severus as agitated at the moment, it would be a bit of understatement. He breathed quicker than norm, his usually pale cheeks reddened, dark eyes glittering.

Sirius dimly recalled that his husband had been in similar state when he had last seen him five years ago. He didn't much care for Severus' tirade, he actually only half listened to it. He just pondered possible causes of Severus' total failure in a field he knew his husband to be master above masters even in his relatively young age.

But it cost much more be at least admitted to exams at the Magical Science Institute in Rome, the cradle of modern magic and philosophy of modern Wizarding world, than just talent and one or two good references. Namely money and acquaintances at least near the top of society pyramid. The House of Black had both, and Severus, although Sirius suspected that he must have been a little intimidated at first, asked it as a … wedding gift.

Sirius parents didn't much care for the art of potions or magical science in general. They were using the best products it could offer to them but it ended there. But they understood Severus' need for a 'hobby', so they supported him. Severus began his preparations very soon after, with one of the renowned Potion Master Sirius couldn't get arsed to remember the name of.

"But why? I heard Tomin Morsus had no problem. If they gave it to someone who is not sane half the time, how could you not pass?" Sirius wondered, and added, when Severus looked at him questioningly: "I met Peter at Manticore. Peter Pettigrew, remember him from school? He mentioned Morsus's 'great success' in passing. That's how I know."

"You met Pettigrew? They released him already?"

Sirius was pouring himself some more brandy. He inclined to Severus with the bottle and the other man refused once again. Sirius shrugged.

"Your problem," he muttered. "And what do you mean released?" he then asked with frown.

Severus looked at him as if he asked him to dress in pink. "Just what hole have you spent your holidays in?" he asked, the tone of his voice somewhat incredulous. "Must have been pretty far and uncivilized if you couldn't get newspapers from magical word there. I thought you said you had been at Potter's place? Didn't he tell you?"

"What?" Sirius was a little confused. When he had been at Potter's they certainly hadn't remembered good old times. They weren't that old yet. And as for Peter, neither he nor James or Lily or even Remus had seen him or heard from him since they had left school.

"Don't you remember anything about the so-called Dark Lord? The-one-who-cannot-be-named?"

"You mean that Voldemort character?"

Severus gave exasperated sigh. "Yes. Him." Sirius' unwillingness, or maybe inability, to acknowledge power had always irked him. And Voldemort had been powerful. At least he had seemed to be.

"So, what with him? And what does it have to do with James's family?"

"I was told that Potter had been appointed as a head of the hit squad that should have gone after that man. Only later it became clear that it was not a very good move on the Head Auror Hammons' part."

Sirius nodded distractedly, swirling the liquid in his glass before gulping it down. His eyes were trained on the figure of his husband who was half turned away from him. He thought that black didn't suit that man at all; it made him look even thinner and paler in the face than he was. Still, he supposed the black robes were practical for a Potion brewer. Hmm, had he seen him in something other than black recently?

"They attacked the Da- Voldemort's hideout but they only arrested a few of his followers that dwelled there at the moment. Pettigrew was one of them, by the way."

The dark green cloak he had been wearing when Sirius first arrived at Hogwarts days ago.

"And so was Lucius Malfoy. Well, what else would you expect?"

The blue almost muggle looking waist jacket he had on at Manticore's. It had showed his hips and legs rather nicely.

"That slimy serpent got out of it, of course. A few galleons here, little blackmailing there. Public wasn't allowed to the courts at all, they wanted to keep the details secret."

There was a pause.

Sirius' eyes had to travel all the way up across the long, _long_ cloak that covered everything from the shoulders to those legs and couldn't the man just take the damn cloak off really there was too hot there to …

Sirius tried to remember what Severus had been saying. "Yes? Please continue. It sounds terribly interesting," he asked politely. _Too much brandy, Black_, he then said to himself.

In the mean time, Severus turned to him, eying him suspiciously. "Interesting? Let me tell you, there was nothing interesting about it. People were afraid to leave their homes to even go shopping for food. Do you think that's interesting?" he bit out.

Sirius fidgeted uncomfortably. "So … what happened to that maniac?"

Severus smirked. "Your best friend's son."

"What?!"

"Yes. I don't know all the details, obviously, because the ministry once again refused to relay much information, but it seems the 'maniac' went after Potters, and especially their son, since the beginning of his rise."

"But why? And why didn't they tell me anything?"

"I have no idea why they didn't tell you. Maybe they'd rather forget it altogether. And why would the Dark Lord-"

"- Voldemort –"

"- Voldemort go after that child, well, no one seems to know. I think the ministry still keeps a close eye at their family but from what I heard there's nothing out of order with that boy."

"What happened then?"

Here Severus chuckled a little. Sirius blinked confusedly at the sound and Severus, seeing this, scowled at him again.

"What?" the professor growled.

"Nothing, nothing. Didn't know you could laugh. Go on." Sirius got over his shock and was impatient to find out what happened to the family of man he would give his life for.

Severus, on the other hand, was not about to let the other man mock him. "Look, Black, I'm spending my free time here because I thought you finally learned how to act like an adult. Since this is not the case, I'm leaving. No need for me to be here. I don't have patience for your moronic behavior."

And he proceeded to the door. Unfortunately, Sirius still stood between him and the way out of this unpleasant evening, and quickly put his strategically advantageous position to use. He anticipated his husband's next steps and caught him, hands sliding under the black cloak, around his waist.

Severus tried immediately to push him away, but Sirius held him fast.

"Let go," Severus ordered.

"Why?" Sirius just smiled gently.

"You are drunk."

"Is that the reason? Maybe I'm a little drunk. But I still want to know what happened."

"You should have been here, then. Why don't you go and ask someone else?"

Sirius released his tense husband who immediately backed away as if burned. "There's no one else right now. Besides, I want to know from you."

Severus snorted.

"I have all night, Severus."

"There's not much more to say, really. The night Aurors headed after Voldemort's lair, Voldemort himself appeared in Godric's Hollow. He got into Potter's house and stupefied Potter's wife. He went for that boy, but …" Severus shrugged his shoulders tensely.

Sirius raised an eyebrow in inquiry.

"He – Voldemort – had an item with him. A dark object. One to preserve a part of one's soul." Severus said the last part in a hushed whisper.

"And what was that?"

Severus pursed his lips and looked at him in meaningfully as if everything should be clear to Sirius already. Alas, Sirius didn't have an idea what the other man meant.

Severus then sighed, somewhat annoyed, and gave up. "Doesn't matter. The point it that the boy –"

"No, wait, tell me what was that thing!"

Severus frowned and then muttered something under his breath.

"I'm sorry, I'm afraid I didn't understand you."

"A Horcrux, damn it!" Severus hissed and then began frantically looking around the room as if there was someone who could hear them.

Sirius had trouble understanding what the other man was saying. Of course he knew, at least little, what a Horcrux is. It would be impossible not to know – given the tradition of the family he was born into and the fact that he had always been extremely curious child, whose parents just hadn't been able to hide all the books with all those interesting pictures and complicated spell words.

But this …

Horcruxes were indeed objects of Dark Arts, created by tremendous power and infinite selfish desire for immortality. No one, NO ONE in the Wizarding world would speak aloud of those things for they were most dangerous things to play with. Forever they would preserve a part of wizard's soul, but at the highest price – the loss of humanity. And whoever even thought of paying such a price was regarded as a monster. For what good could ever come out of mind of someone who foregone his own soul for power?

And little Harry was …

"What happened?" he croaked out, almost unable to speak properly from shock. The only comforting thought was that they were all safe and alive and all right and the … the thing was dead.

"He sat on it and it broke."

"What?!" Unknowingly, they had begun to speak much quieter but at Sirius' exclamation both of them jumped slightly.

"I said," Severus began, "that the thing, an old golden cup or something like that, broke when the boy sat on it. Don't ask me how that happened. I wasn't there. I don't know. The Aurors arrived and had no problem incapacitating Voldemort further. He just sat there, the shards of that thing in hands and stared at the boy who was wailing in fear. He was given Dementor's Kiss two days after."

Both men just stood there for a while, not looking at each other.

Sirius felt absolutely ashamed and guilty for not being there and not even knowing that such events took place. Pettigrew's name sprung into his mind and he frowned. How could that rat …

"Does ministry know that Pettigrew is an Animagus?" he asked absently, still mulling over the things he had just been told.

"Yes. It was in the Daily Prophet. They found out when he tried to escape from Azkaban. He has been released but the spell they placed on him so that he could not change are still in place. Potter is an Animagus, too."

"Hmm."

Another moment of silence.

"So, I can go now?" It was Severus who broke the silence.

Sirius' foggy mind worked slowly. "Where?"

"To pack my things."

"Why?"

"Well, I don't suppose I can continue on working here since you know my little dirty secret."

"What secret?"

Severus tapped his foot impatiently, waiting for Sirius to begin using his brain again.

"Oh. Oh! Don't be ridiculous. Why would I tell anyone?" Sirius scoffed. "That would be hypocritical, considering everything that I was part of and that happened right under out beloved Headmaster's nose when we were at school."

Severus looked at him skeptically.

Sirius smirked.

"Right. If you don't believe me I'll tell you secret of my own. I'm an unregistered Animagus, too. We all were, James, Peter, and I. Since our fifth year. Because of Remus, so that he wouldn't be so lonely at the Shrieking Shack. Did you know? That's were he went every full moon."

Severus gaped. He opened his mouth to say something but Sirius beat him to it.

"But if you want to use this information I suggest you to do it quickly, because James has gotten his registration already, Peter, too, if you say so, and mine will be ready the day after tomorrow."

And with that the Potions Master was pushed out of the door in the hallway.

Sirius would relish the half surprised, half indignant expression on his face as long as he could.

A little satisfaction. He would have to drink the rest of the brandy to forget the guilt that had welled up inside him. And he had a feeling that he would need even larger amount of alcohol if he wanted to prevent himself from dreaming about a pale lithe body under his hands.

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Till next time ...

S.


	12. Chapter 12

Hell-oh :-) Well, here I am. After more than year. I apologize, that's about all I can do. I really DID mean to update at the end of March 2007. Well, May 2008 will have to do.

Have fun if you are reading this.

Unbetaed, characters (except one) and original idea not mine. Still not native English speaker, so there may be (and most likely are) mistakes.

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"Headmaster, you can't be serious!"

"I'm not. That's your husband." Dumbledore's eyes twinkled merrily; he was visibly pleased with his oh-so-clever little joke.

Severus was sitting in Headmaster's office. They both were drinking lemon tea from small china cups. Severus sneered at the amount of sugar that disappeared in his superior's cup. The wizard was lucky diabetes was a disease only contracted by Muggles.

"No need to scowl so much, Severus. It's just one night," Dumbledore tried to reassure his younger colleague.

"Hmpf! One night? Have you been to the dungeon lately, Sir? It will be at least a WEEK before we get that … that THING eliminated."

"Then you'll have to stay in the chambers provided to your husband for the duration of the entire week."

"Not to mention the time it will take to replace all the ingredients and broke- … What?!

The ancient Headmaster of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was still smiling but there was obviously no place for arguments.

Severus tried anyway.

"May I at least ask why I am not provided with a suite of rooms as it is stated that I should be should the need arise, which is stated in my contract AND in the School Rules, Headmaster?"

"May I ask you to go through said School Rules of this establishment once more and look at this little clause – number twenty-six of that particular section I think – which clearly states that should a teacher be in need of temporary sleeping arrangements, it will be provided unless the spouse of said teacher also resides under the roof of this castle in different set of rooms, in which case the teacher is to move in with him or her?"

"What if I choose not to oblige?"

"Then feel free to make your bed in any corridor of your liking."

Severus straightened in his chair, slowly set the saucer and the cup he was holding on the table, stood, and was about leaving in a huff, when Dumbledore called after him:

"And Severus, do not think on going to Mr. Bridges' rooms either. I have spoken to him and he agrees that whatever relationship you had going it would do more harm than good to you both."

During his speech Severus had turned stare back at him. Lesser man would jump out of the window before facing such a fierce glare.

But Dumbledore was no lesser man.

"It's for the best, Severus. You know it."

Severus snorted and headed for the door, muttering something about blooming black baskets and their inconceivable timing. Or so it seemed to the almighty Headmaster.

Dumbledore turned his gaze towards ceiling serenely. "It's such a joy to see young people getting on so well."

He ignored the smirking faces of the former headmasters and headmistresses on the paintings lining the walls of his office.



Severus strode to the school library, determined to spend the rest of his day holed up in there, in one of the many corners that were oh-so-convenient for all lone bookworms and an occasional pair of snogging adolescents.

He spent a few minutes at the desk of the librarian, Irma Pince, recounting the events that had lead to his unplanned free afternoon.

On his way to aforementioned quiet corner he encountered a group of his sixth-years and scared them out off the library with a single glare, when one of them, a Slytherin who had been standing with his back to him, uttered the name Pendleton. Never before had he seen any of the students disappear so quickly.

He borrowed several books and laid them out on the table, then he took out a piece of parchment lent to him by Madam Pince, and immersed himself in his newest pet project.



Exhausted from all the time he spent pouring over various books and scrolls in the library Severus finally made his way to the den of one annoying lion.

"Did you ask Albus to do this?" was the first thing he said once the door to Sirius´ temporary chambers opened.

Sirius lifted his eyebrows, clearly perplexed. "You mean did I ask him to magic that goo into your dungeon? Then no, husband dear, I did not."

"It's not goo, it's an animated glutinous orange substance with blue dots that changes into a huge orange rat in regular intervals. Did you ask the Headmaster to have me moved in your rooms instead of somewhere else?"

Seeing that Severus had no intention of going inside, Sirius leaned against the doorframe and narrowed his eyes as if in thought. "That's the technical term?"

"Black," Severus growled warningly, suddenly feeling a slight ache developing in the area behind the temples.

"Again, Severus, I did not. He came here this morning to ask if I was willing to accommodate you for a night or two. As it happens, I have enough room for two. So I said I was."

Severus huffed and pushed his way through the door despite Sirius still hanging in the doorframe. He was let in without protests. The moron even had the gall to wear such a self-confident smirk as if he was just elected the President of the Universe or something.

Severus looked around, as if he was here for the first time. Truth to be told, he had been too vexed the day before to bother with an inspection of furniture. Well, he was vexed now as well. And who wouldn't be, after such a day. And the furniture was the same as in any other room in the castle, anyway – ancient and on the fancy side, but sturdy and purpose-built.

A quiet 'click' of the door just shut brought him out of his reverie.

"Our venerable Headmaster told me that since I was here, I should make myself useful. That means I'm joining the team for elimination of that huge orange what-not. I'm looking forward to it," Sirius said, grinning like an idiot with those little sparks in his eyes.

Severus looked at him, shrugging off the heavy black outer robe he wore when teaching and hanging it across the back of the couch. "You don't have to. All we are going to do is to spray it with a substance I'm going to prepare once Minerva and Aventine return from Diagon Alley with some things I need." He then paused for a moment, strange glint in his eye. "But since you seem so intent on not doing nothing while here, you can help with the cleaning the day after. And the day after. And the day after."

The mention of the pre-spring cleaning could not scare the great former Gryffindor in the least. Sirius just kept grinning. "Okay," he said softly. And then: "I think your night attire has arrived," he nodded to the right, towards a closed door.

Severus headed there without a second thought and almost fell right back when he realized that the chamber he was peering into was in fact a bedroom. It wasn't exactly a feeling of dread he felt as he gazed on the bed on whose surface laid neatly folded his light-grey nightshirt. But it came damn close. He, Sirius and one bed; these ingredients had never mixed well.

Thinking it easier to face those curious grey-blue eyes than that particular piece of furniture, he returned to the living area.

Sirius was just closing the outside door. He held a piece of parchment for Severus, who took it and read it. According to the note, Minerva and Aventine finally arrived with all the ingredients needed for brewing the Cleansing Potion.

And so, not a minute later, he was on his way to an unused classroom on the second floor.

He was a bit put out by the fact that none of his colleagues had stayed behind to chat. All the ingredients and tools he needed were laid out neatly on two desks though, and on the third there was a middle sized copper cauldron. The two most likely used Minerva's Time Turner to have gotten it ready this quickly. Well, he was eager to start working on the remedy as soon as possible, and everyone in the castle knew he was not to be disturbed at times like this, but some company before work would have been welcome. By now both professors probably paced in their own classrooms, teaching some brainless twats of third-year Gryffindors or Hufflepuffs.

The potion was a fairly easy one. Just throwing in the ingredients. First-years should have been able to do it correctly. Somehow Severus doubted they were though. He wondered what it was saying about his competency as a teacher.

Forty minutes later Severus put out the flame under the cauldron, poured the lilac colored concoction into another cauldron, this one filled with water, and stirred a few times. The substance smelled strongly of camphor oil; not a pleasant smell in Severus' opinion, but the right one nonetheless. He quickly cleaned his workspace, washed the tools, and threw away the bits of ingredients that couldn't be used anymore. Then he took the cauldron with the cleaning mixture and started on a journey to the dungeon.

He ignored a red flashing "DO NOT ENTER" sign that floated near the entrance to the dungeon in the Entrance Hall, and slipped in the narrow dimly lit corridor.

It turned out he was far from being a sole trespasser. Three figures stood on the half landing, just above the level where thick neon orange liquid with an occasional blue spot on the surface washed the floor.

Minerva was the first to take notice of his presence. "It appears to be receding," she said in greeting.

"Great," Severus replied. "In that case I'm going on vacation and we can just wait until it disappears on its own."

Minerva chuckled. The other two stayed silent.

"So," Severus spoke up again, determined to ignore the stifling atmosphere. "No sightings of the rat?"

Minerva, Aventine and Sirius shook their head.

"A pity though," Sirius said in the end, the familiar small smirk firmly in place. "I wanted to have a look at it."

Minerva laughed quietly and Severus suddenly recollected how fond she had been of Sirius and James Potter when all of them had still been students at Hogwarts. His look slid to Aventine, who stared blankly at the small orange waves rolling lazily just three steps beneath them. Severus willed himself not to feel resentful, and succeeded.

In the meantime, Minerva transfigured the cauldron with the Cleansing Potion into four bottle spray guns and her long emerald green teaching robe into dark grey knee length coat.

"Chic," said Aventine and Minerva smirked at him and replied "you bet".

The four of them spent the next three hours spraying the potion on the floor and on the walls of the dungeon. The slimy thing hissed at them as if it wanted to fight back; fortunately it didn't. There were no large incidents. The liquid appeared not to be acidic, which meant Aventine's shoe and Severus' trouser-leg just needed a proper scrubbing and plenty of washing soap. The main corridor, two adjacent corridors, two classrooms, Severus' office and one large empty unused room later, they were mostly finished. The rest would be dealt with the day after. Minerva, who had played the role of a peacemaker for the whole time, left first, fanning herself with her hand and sighing for a cup of Earl Grey. Aventine left only moments after her, his longish blond hair plastered to his forehead and neck, his grey-green eyes dull with exhaustion. Only Sirius looked cheery, if bit disheveled, a bit like a dog, which had just dug out a huge hole only to find a small bone as its reward.

They went up to their room together. The Headmaster had a diner prepared for them in their rooms. They ate and talked a bit; Sirius was the more talkative one, tough. He laughed and joked about the unfortunate Balthazar Pendelton, the creator of the mess in the dungeon, who apparently had a curious problem with colors when doing magic.

"It's not as if he was totally stupid," Severus grumbled into his plate. "He is competent enough to follow the instructions, but when under pressure, his creations turn the most interesting colors. Minerva and Filius have the same problem with him. But who cares if a teapot is let's say canary yellow instead of white with a golden trim. But in Potions the color is often important for the final outcome as well as the ingredients. You can't charm Amortentia Potion blue just because you like the color better. It not only loses all the original properties but can be dangerous as well."

Sirius seemed totally amused. "And what are you going to do about it?" he asked curiously.

"Talk with his Head of House and recommend a talk with Poppy Pomfrey. He is worse year by year."

"Hey, wouldn't it be better to just leave him be? It's the teenagers' hormones, I bet. He's probably in love or something. And besides, wouldn't it be cool? You in particular could do with learning how to appreciate all the beautiful colors of life. As it is, you are a Black all through," Sirius snickered.

Severus glared. "If you didn't hear, I said it could be dangerous. Hogwarts was not established just to teach magic, but also find and prevent exactly these occurrences. Your feeble imagination would most likely have a difficult time to picture it, but if these things weren't solved while there's still time, the magic would be a serious hazard."

Sirius, who had his mouth full of treacle tart at the moment, couldn't answer, so he just did a "mmm" sound. Whether it was in agreement or not, Severus couldn't say, but he really didn't care. He was quite tired, but it was too early to go to bed, so he settled himself on the couch with a book and the parchment with his hypothesis on the Pendelton problem, which he had begun that afternoon in the library.

Immersed in his reading, he didn't notice his husband settling right across him in a chair and gazing at him thoughtfully, until said husband nudged him in the calf with his foot.

Startled, Severus turned to glare at Sirius, but his expression turned into a confused scowl, when he spied the look on his husband's face.

"What!" he snapped defensively and unconsciously pulled his legs closer to the couch and farther from Sirius own legs.

Sirius cocked head to the side and surveyed him with narrowed eyes, as if he tried to read his thoughts. Severus looked away, just in case Sirius really could do that.

"Hey," said Sirius and the tone used in that one not-even-word made Severus freeze. He heard this tone only about twice or thrice in his life and never has it been aimed anywhere near him. It was the tone that caused shivers run down your spine and made you want to arch your back in desire to get closer and away at the same time.

He gazed stubbornly into the book and waited if Sirius would talk or … or … what. He blinked, trying to clear out the fog that seemed to descend on his brain.

"How many men did you sleep with when I was away?"

Severus' eyes flew wide open, but he didn't raise his head. S-sleep with?

…

That bastard. That hypocritical bastard! What did he think …

"Two."

Severus leaned into the arm rest of the couch and didn't look up anymore. After a few moments, Sirius got up from the chair and went to the bedroom. Severus ignored him. And would continue to ignore him until the end of his life.

Bastard.

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Till next time?

S.


End file.
